Oxford Street hoarding

If you know where the Debenhams store used to be on Oxford Street, London, then you’ll be familiar with how wide the building was. So when we were commisioned to produce the hoarding graphics for the building works taking place, we knew we were in for quite a task.

 

The storefront spans a whopping 61m in length. With such a huge footfall of passersby on Oxford Street, a hoarding of this size is a big deal for all. It’s a perfect way to enliven the space, make the construction site respectable, as well as advertise what’s coming along in the future. So, when the creative team at Agency TK approached us, we were excited by the opportunity.

Prep and logistics

This particular job involved a number of site surveys and meetings with the creative agency, and the building contractors and management team. Everyone needed to be on the same path in terms of requirements, processes and deadlines.

There’s a lot to consider when producing a hoarding of this size. This includes the production time, print-ready artwork, sizing, council approval, Healthy & Safety and Risk and Method Statements, and the ongoing building construction. Add this to the fact that Oxford Street is also one of the busiest shopping streets in the world.

What production media to use for a hoarding.

The hoarding was all produced in-house. using our direct-to-media print equipment. The boards are Di-Bond, an aluminium composite sheet with a thin aluminium skin, used primarily outdoors, and fully recyclable. It’s perfect for hoardings that need to be hard-wearing, which a category a site such as Oxford Street and its heavy footfall and traffic certainly falls into.

The graphics were produced over a number of days, quality checked for print perfection, and the continuation of the image running coherently across the multiple panels correctly. The job was then fully briefed to the installation team who would be fitting the individual panels, and supporting pelmets and kickers to successfully create the 61 m-long landscape. We, and importantly the client, think it was a huge success from start to finish.