Exhibition of designs for Memorial Gardens

An exhibition showing Norwich City Council’s plans to repair and redesign the Memorial Gardens is to be displayed at the Forum this weekend.

The exhibition is to be part of the Veterans’ Day event on Sunday 22 June. A model and information boards will explain the plans. The exhibition will also be available to view on Monday. It will be open from 10am to 4pm on both days.

Norwich City Council is working with veterans, local interest groups and English Heritage to design a complete restoration and enhancement of the gardens and allow them to be reopened to the public.

Councillor Brian Morrey, executive member for sustainable city development, says: “The war memorial and the gardens should commemorate the sacrifices of Norwich people who have lost their lives in warfare. It should also inspire hope for a peaceful future. The city council is committed to reopening the gardens and improving them. In planning this project we have worked closely with the veterans, the Peace Council and English Heritage and are confident that the result will be an attractive space for the public and a fitting tribute to the fallen.”

And Bill McLintock, vice-chairman of the Norwich Combined Ex-Services Association, said: “I am very pleased with the plans. We have been wanting this to happen for a long time and, in my personal opinion, I can’t fault them in any way. “I will be interested to see what my fellow veterans think of them at the exhibition.

The project will strengthen the building beneath the gardens, the war memorial will be raised to street level and turned around to face City Hall, a ramp will provide access to the gardens, a new planting scheme will be put in place and a new sculpture will fill the space in the gardens currently occupied by the memorial.

The sculpture has been designed by award-winning sculptor Paul de Monchaux, whose work includes the memorial to Wilfred Owen in Shrewsbury, the BBC Churchill memorial in London, and the memorial to WW2 slave workers in Jersey. The design will be on show as part of the exhibition.

The designs for the restoration of the gardens will be finalised between July and September, and applications for planning permission and listed building consent will be submitted in October. Construction work will begin in April 2009, subject to planning approval, with completion in 2010.

Norwich City Council is working on the scheme with architects NPS Property Consultants, landscape architects The Landscape Partnership and construction consultants Stirling Maynard Partners.

Norwich City Council would like to hear any comments you have on our plans. Please email warmemorial@norwich.gov.uk

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