The Fountain Workshop - Fountain design, build and management
 

Bradford City Park

The award-winning Mirror Pool in Bradford City Park is the largest urban water feature in the UK. The vast pool is animated by over 100 fountains, the largest of which, "the Bradford Blast" rises to 30 metres.

The day starts with a low-lying mist, the pool then slowly fills with water forming a mirror that reflects the beautiful 19th Century City Hall. Water levels change throughout the day, revealing causeways in the pool, while the fountains respond to the rhythms of the city, marking when people arrive to work or break for lunch. At dusk, the pool is bathed in colour and illuminated with dancing lights.

Bradford City Park with its Mirror Pool is a great example of how investment in the public realm has the ability to completely change perceptions of an area and even effect social change. The park is immensely popular with locals and visitors alike and draws thousands of people to the heart of Bradford.

 

Project Facts

  • Location: Bradford City Centre, UK
  • Client: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
  • Services: Design, build, management
  • Features: Reflection pool, fog, animated jets, geysers
  • Partners: Gillespies, Arup, Birse Civils

“It can be a cool, tranquil and misty space, a huge reflective watery mirror, a bubbling, squirting, popping and splashing fountain display, a beautifully-lit aqueous light display or a thunderous 100 ft water cannon.”