BAA rounds up design teams for new roster

Airport operator BAA is creating a roster of some 100 design suppliers, including graphic and interior design consultancies and architects.

The new roster, due to be completed by the summer, will “set a BAA design standard appropriate to the organisation’s position as a world leader”, according to BAA design director Raymond Turner.

Design will continue to be commissioned from various sites within BAA, but consultancies will be chosen from the roster.

Consultancies currently working with the airport operator have already pre-qualified to a second-stage questionnaire in the three-stage process, says Turner. The second questionnaire is “very holistic”, according to Aubrey Ghose, creative director at Allen International, one of the many consultancies which have worked for BAA.

“It was a very comprehensive and intelligent questionnaire which covered areas other then design competence,” she adds.

BAA has shortlisted about 300 applications for the second stage, from some 2000 respondents to a European Union-wide advertisement for designers, ranging from architects to product and landscape specialists.

The final stage of selection will be one-to-one interviews. “It is a long and arduous process, but we will have a system in place where we can be more focused on who we employ,” says Turner. “We will have a named group of consultants who we can match to projects and whose services we can learn to use better, creating good partnerships.”

BAA also plans to recruit its first corporate identity strategist, to oversee its branding.