THE BRIT AWARDS 2026
// BRITs
THE BRIT AWARDS 2026.
CO-OP LIVE ARENA, MANCHESTER // 2026
NorthHouse joins Brits in the north!
For this year’s BRIT Awards, hosted for the first time in Manchester, we designed and delivered the screen visuals, broadcast package, and digital suite with the ambition to create a unified visual identity that translated seamlessly across live performance, broadcast, and online platforms.
Working in close collaboration with set designer Misty Buckley’s multi-stage kinetic space station, we extended the physical architecture of the stage into expansive digital worlds, using light, colour and motion to expand the stage into the arena. Monumental LED canvases became portals to otherworldly, dynamic and immersive environments, resulting in a carefully crafted visual ecosystem.
| IMAGES : ITV FootageLIVE SHOW.
BROADCAST.
MUSIC.
AWARDS.
| IMAGES : ITV Footage ““THE BRITS ACHIEVED THE HIGHEST PEAK SHARE FOR ANY COMMERCIAL PROGRAMME IN THE 2026 CALENDAR. SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT ON THE BRITS OWNED CHANNELS BROKE RECORDS [...] INSTAGRAM LED THE WAY WITH 162M VIEWS, UP 400% FROM 32.4M VIEWS IN THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR [...] YOUTUBE BROADCAST THE SHOW TO NON-UK VIEWERS [...] WITH VIEWS DOUBLING COMPARED TO 2025, WITH OVER ONE MILLION TUNING IN FROM OVERSEAS. THERE WERE MORE THAN FOUR MILLION VIEWS OF CONTENT ON THE BRITS’ YOUTUBE CHANNEL.”
- ANDRE PAINE, MUSICWEEK”
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION
The stage design was an ambitious multi-surface environment built around kinetic towers, a vast panoramic back wall and a series of floor and podium screens. In total, we delivered visuals across nine discrete surfaces, amounting to a combined canvas of 91 megapixels.
The nomination packages were built around four elemental worlds — Earth, Fire, Nature and Water — each with its own distinct visual language. The Ozzy Osbourne tribute required a completely different register, focusing on dynamic, rhythmic animation rather than atmospheric environments.
Playback was handled by the Disguise VX4+, chosen for its ability to manage extreme resolutions while maintaining the highest output quality and frame smoothness. As this was an awards show rather than a generative live performance, all media was fully pre-rendered using a combination of tools including Notch, Cinema 4D, Unreal Engine, EmberGen and After Effects.
Previsualisation in Unreal Engine was essential, particularly given the tower geometry and how it interacted with the back wall visuals across different audience sightlines.
| IMAGES : NorthHouseThanks in particular to BPI, Sally Wood, Misty Buckley and Phil Heyes for the trust in us!
// TEAM
CLIENT: BRIT AWARDS 2026
EXEC. PRODUCER / DIRECTOR: TOM BAIRSTOW
SENIOR PRODUCER: ALICE RYLAND
ART DIRECTOR / CREATIVE LEAD: LYDIA CAPLAN
MOTION DIRECTOR / CREATIVE LEAD: CHRIS GAUGHRAN
LEAD TECHNICAL ARTIST: FLORIAN LECOQ
CREATIVE PRODUCER: DANA COULING
MOTION DESIGNER: AARON HONDA
MOTION DESIGNER: DAN RICHARDS
MOTION DESIGNER: LIAM GILHEANY
MOTION DESIGNER: MISAKI HORAI
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT: CHRIS WREFORD
