The Phoenix Initiative covered three hectares of Coventry's city centre. The development was the first component of the city's wider regeneration and the most important since the rebuilding which followed the devastation of World War II. It has seen the creation of four new public gardens and two civic squares in the heart of Coventry over the past six years, of which Millennium Place is the most spectacular.

The brief was to incorporate public art into urban design capable of acting as the central focus to an ambitious regeneration project. Lighting was to play a vital role in the scheme, creating a sense of place after dark by reinforcing the architectural and landscape elements of the new environment. The requirement also included a high quality coherent and legible lighting scheme to provide unobtrusive background street lighting that defines safe routes through the fully pedestrianised areas.

Millennium Place is edged by a series of Geo Parklights, which define the perimeter of the space by the lighting of footpaths. The overall result is an artistic effect in line with the square's public artwork without compromising on the required basic function of illumination of the public walkways.

The street lighting is supplemented by a highly innovative transport solution, a series of dramatically lit 10m long bespoke Woodhouse bus shelters that also provide direct and indirect lighting to the square perimeter. Integrated fluorescent fittings throw light onto the seating area for the comfort and security of passengers, but light from these fixtures also washes up onto the stunning gullwing roof. The roof spine of each shelter uses a blue Geo LED fitting in either end, to provide cohesion to the other lighting elements in the square.

Other development in the area includes the LED lit Whittle Arches that straddle Millennium Place with artist Françoise Schein's Time Zone Clock set into the open expanse of the plaza. Furthermore, Alexander Beleschenko's steel bridge snakes out of the square through a 360 degree spiral linking pedestrians with historic sites.