Executive Team
"As our world becomes more virtual, the value of igniting our real human senses becomes ever more valuable."
Simon Elliott
Simon is the Creative Director of Garden of Ideas and Ahh...Arts Igniting Minds, and is the creative force behind the Garden of Ideas concept. Shortlisted to deliver artwork for the London Olympics in 2012, he has created work for ballet dancer Carlos Acosta at the ENO, Kensington Palace and the Tower of London. His show Permission to Play holds the Shakespeare's Globe box office record, with 30,000 visitors in two 6-hour days. Simon has performed for over 25 years with theatre companies including RSC, NT, ESC, London’s West End and Lyric Hammersmith, and was a creative producer at the Jim Henson Creature Shop. He has 20 years of experience commissioning world-class artists, and his creative focus in recent years has turned towards immersive art that blurs the lines between high and low-end culture. 
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"The thrilling entertainments in Garden of Ideas will bring art, science and technology to a mass audience."
Sir Tim Smit KBE Tim co-founded the Eden Project, a £140 million visitor attraction and environmental initiative in Cornwall, UK. 16 million people have visited since the project's opening, and it has contributed more than £1 billion to the regional economy. Tim Smit has been appointed an honorary Knight by Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his services to public engagement with science. 
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"Garden of Ideas is the most exquisite of playgrounds, releasing a sense of fun and pleasure in adults and children from across all cultures and communities."
Rory Holburn Rory formerly Head of Operations for Chessington World of Adventures and an operational and design consultant on Warner Bros’ Harry Potter Studio Tour. He has worked alongside the head of Walt Disney Imagineering and the founder of Walt Disney Theatrical to develop attraction concepts and business models. Rory produces live shows and events, specialising in the attractions sector. He currently operates a number of attractions on behalf of local government. 
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Consultants
A global consultancy firm offering a range of services to the construction and property industry, providing project, cost and construction management for clients throughout the world.
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Peter Houston
Peter has been with Gardiner & Theobald LLP since 1989 and was appointed as a Partner in 2000. His project experience ranges from sensitive works in occupied listed buildings, such as the Royal Opera House and the HQ of the Institution of Civil Engineers, through to high quality residential, hotel and commercial developments for a wide spectrum of private clients. Peter has been responsible for a number of high-profile projects, including the Athletes’ Village at Stratford, the Vision for Lord’s masterplan and Kings Place, and the mixed arts and commercial building in King’s Cross. |
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Atelier One
A British structural engineering company. Some of their most notable completed projects include: Gardens by the Bay, Singapore, which was recently awarded 'World Building of the Year 2012' at the World Architecture Festival; Anish Kapoor’s Cloudgate in Chicago; the National Stadium, Slovenia; Stage Sets for U2, Rolling Stones and Take That. |
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Professor Neil Thomas
Neil is the Director and Founder of Atelier One, which has been described as "the most innovative engineering practice in the UK". |
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Salon Consulting
Salon Consulting offers specialist hotel, leisure and foodservice consultancy services in addition to general management consulting support to investors and regulators, developers, operators, public and private sector organisations. Each Salon Partner has over 20 years of consulting experience, and is regarded as world class in their field. |
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Tate Harmer Architects
A practice committed to developing sustainable low-energy architectural solutions, achieved by mimicking natural systems whilst embracing cutting-edge developments in construction and computer technologies. The practice designs buildings that bring architecture and nature together. |
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Jerry Tate RIBA
Jerry is a concept architect and a partner at Tate Harmer. During his eight years working for Grimshaw Architects, Jerry led the delivery of a number of significant projects including ‘The Core’ education facilities at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK; the refurbishment of the surrounding listed buildings at Paddington Station, London; a large section of the UCL Institute for Cancer Studies in London; and Stansted Terminal 2 in Essex. He has extensive experience delivering residential, arts, educational, commercial and sustainable projects. |
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Trivandi
An international consultancy that provides strategic consulting, project management and project assurance on major venue and infrastructure projects. |
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Grimshaw Architects
Operates worldwide with offices in New York, London, Melbourne, Sydney and Doha employing over 325 staff. The company has been honoured with over 150 international design awards including the prestigious Lubetkin Prize. |
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Jolyon Brewis RIBA
Jolyon is an architect skilled in finding creative, pragmatic solutions driven by a careful understanding of the client's requirements and the unique possibilities of each project. His architectural experience covers all of Grimshaw's principal sectors. Projects include all phases of the Eden Project, the headquarters for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, master planning the expansion of Stansted and Heathrow Airports, an urban extension to the town of Harlow, and the Aerogenerator wind turbine. |
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Wonder Works
Wonder Works is an international technical production practice that develops, directs and delivers exceptional technical solutions for live events. |
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Piers Shepperd
Piers Shepperd is the Technical Director at Wonder Works. Over the last 25 years, his career has spanned design, production management, lighting, automation and development of cutting edge manufacturing processes involving clients from Her Majesty the Queen to Queen the rock band. He has delivered critically acclaimed projects such as: We Will Rock You, U2 Popmart Tour, and Rolling Stones Licks World Tour. In 2004, as Associate Technical Director for the Athens Olympics 2004 Opening and Ceremonies, Piers was made directly responsible for staging and technical coordination, including the technical design and delivery of the iconic Olympic fire rings, chamber and lake effect. In 2006 as Head of Technical Design, he was instrumental in the creation of the world’s largest outdoor LED screen and huge chamber system for the Doha Asian Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies. In 2008, as Design Manager for ES Projects, he worked with renowned UK architect Zaha Hadid to deliver the award winning touring Chanel Art Pavilion. He was the Technical Director for the London 2012 Ceremonies. Critically acclaimed highlights included: the flown molten Olympic rings, the cauldron and James Bond and the Queen’s parachute stunt. |
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