The UK government has unveiled the shortlisted designs for a memorial to Queen Elizabeth II destined for a site in the capital’s St James’s Park, a green space bordered by Buckingham Palace and the oldest of London’s Royal Parks. The open competition invited “ambitious” masterplans that would create an “emotionally powerful place” on a scale to reflect the Queen’s “standing”, while remaining sensitive to the park’s setting.
Public feedback is now invited on the five designs that made the cut. All are intended to provide a public space for reflection and celebrate the late monarch’s “extraordinary life of service”, the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee says.
The designs
1. Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners have proposed a natural stone path that offers a “journey through a tranquil family of Royal gardens.” Accompanied by the Queen’s voice via audio installations, visitors will encounter new sculptures of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at Birdcage Walk, as well as the Community Garden’s artistic celebration of UK diversity and the Unity Bridge which crowns the experience.
2. Heatherwick Studio
Heatherwick Studio’s design also features a bridge, the Bridge of Togetherness, which is a “physical expression of what the Queen stood for above all else, which is unity.” Like the Fosters concept, the bridge is part of a memorial walk to honour Elizabeth’s 70-year reign, with stepping stones provided by 70 lily pads. Renderings reveal a sculpture of the queen protected by a monumental canopy of eight sculptural lilies, crafted from limestone.
3. J&L Gibbons
Another design, another bridge, this time from J&L Gibbons. This time, though, it is not the culmination of a path but part of an “unfolding scene” in an “immersive landscape” where “bedrock” stone from across the four nations of the UK provides a metaphor for the Queen’s strength and endurance.
4. Tom Stuart Smith
Tom Stuart Smith has come up with a “gentle, serpentine” pathway where a sonic soundscape of memories from those who met the Queen will play. This design is characterised by storytelling through symbolic objects, such as an “exact cast of an awe-inspiring oak from Windsor Great Park” which will stand in a lake, connected to the surroundings via a curved stone bridge. It also entails a new configuration for the park entrance on The Mall and incorporates other significant bronze casts.
5. WilkinsonEyre
The final finalist is WilkinsonEyre, who has threaded several pathways through the “natural fabric of St James’s Park” to honour the “defining themes of Her Majesty’s life: Reign, Faith, Commonwealth, Values, Nature, Family, and Prince Philip.” Not one but two bridges span the lake in this design, which claims to present “the lightest footprint on this Grade 1 listed park.”
Capturing “the essence” of memories of the Queen
The Chair of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, Lord Janvrin, said: “Queen Elizabeth II’s extraordinary life of service profoundly touched countless individuals, and she was a figure of great respect and admiration. Memories of her long reign are still fresh for so many of us, and we need to capture the essence of them for future generations. In recognition of this, it is only fitting that we invite the public to express their views on these design concepts.”
The proposed design concepts are available for viewing and responses on the competition organiser’s website. The final result will be announced in early summer 2025.
