The Forest Giants

A town-centre takeover celebrating nature, sustainability and community.

Bracknell Forest Council and The Lexicon sought to create a large-scale summer activation that would celebrate nature, sustainability and community while delivering clear economic and cultural impact. The ambition was to drive significant footfall into Bracknell town centre, increase dwell-time across The Lexicon, generate regional PR, support retailers, and strengthen Bracknell’s identity as a green destination with a long-term legacy event that could grow year on year.

We created The Forest Giants, a large-scale storytelling installation that reimagined the town centre through a narrative rooted in place. Informed by destination research and the fact that 40% of Bracknell Forest is woodland and green space, the concept drew on the borough’s Tree Strategy, exploring themes of biodiversity, ancient woodland protection, accessible green space and future tree planting.
At the heart of the activation were three towering Tree Giants, the tallest over seven metres high. Designed, engineered and fabricated in our Bristol workshop from reclaimed slab wood, each Giant represented a different strand of the Tree Strategy and was given its own personality and narrative world. Animatronic details, soundscapes and folklore brought them to life, supported by touch-free sound plinths and QR-triggered AR layers that extended storytelling across the town centre.

A key part of the experience was The Forest Friends Den, an empty retail unit transformed into a pop-up theatre hosting up to eight performances per day. The original show programme sold out completely including SEND-accessible performances with signed interpretation.

A wider programme of roaming performance animated the town centre, including musicians, storytelling duos, stilt walkers, falconry and interactive window trails designed to guide audiences through retail spaces and increase dwell-time.

We also created The Knowledge Nest; a dedicated space for talks and workshops with partners including The Woodland Trust and Bracknell Forest Parks & Countryside Rangers, reinforcing the project’s educational and environmental focus.

In 2022, the installation returned to The Lexicon as part of The Bracknell Forest Festival, with two new Tree Giants added alongside a refreshed programme of entertainment, music, a bespoke theatre production and a seedling sprite window trail.

The Forest Giants delivered strong measurable impact, increasing footfall, retailer uplift during the activation period and generating significant PR and digital reach. Designed for longevity, the installation later toured to the Eden Project in 2023, where the storytelling evolved to support wider engagement around forest conservation.