European Landscape Architecture: Best Practice in Detailing

United Kingdom

Design philosophy

The Peace Gardens were part of a larger initiative

called the Heart of the City Public Realm Project,

the largest city centre regeneration project in Britain

since the 1950s. Raising the quality of public open

spaces was a key concept in this strategy; indeed,

the notion of ‘quality’ was a fundamental value

throughout the project and is reflected in the mater-

ials used, particularly the extensive use of natural

stone, which has often been regarded as too expen-

sive for contemporary projects.

The idea of quality is also reflected in the craftsman-

ship demonstrated throughout the gardens. Six sep-

arate art or craft commissions were incorporated into

the design. The stone-carver Richard Perry worked

on the balustrades, the ceramicist Tracey Heyes

produced the inlays for the water rills, the father-and-

son team known as the Asquith Design Partnership

was responsible for the work in bronze, the furniture

designer Andrew Skelton produced timber benches,

and two letter carvers, Tom Perkins and Ieuan Rees,

wrote inscriptions on the stonework.

Another key idea was that the Peace Gardens

should genuinely be a garden, not a paved urban

square. This requirement emerged strongly from

a public consultation exercise carried out in con-

junction with an exhibition at the Town Hall held

over seven days in November 1995. The public

expressed strong preferences for traditional park or

garden elements such as grass lawns, herbaceous

borders and semi-mature trees. There was a feeling

that the Peace Gardens should remain a green oasis

and refuge from the bustle of the city, and sug-

gestions that it should become an ‘entertainment

space’ were viewed with suspicion. The public also

objected to the proposition that a nearby water-

feature, the Goodwin Fountain, should be removed

without replacement, and there was general sup-

port for the idea that water should somehow be

accommodated within the proposed design.

Although many of the Peace Gardens’ visitors may

never know it, a subtle symbolism underlies the

overall layout and also informs many of the details.

The five converging paths with their associated

water rills represent the five young rivers upon

which Sheffield is said to have been founded. The

metal vessels which flank the gateways represent

their sources high in the Peak District. The cascades

represent the waterfalls coming off the Edges and

the rills represent the rivers themselves. The foun-

tain symbolises the vibrancy of the city centre. In

the words of Lyn Mitchell, leader of the design team

in the Department of Design and Property, ‘We just

wanted an all-singing, all-dancing water feature.’^7

Water power was important in the earliest industrial

processes in the area and there are over one hun-

9.17
Bronze bollards designed by the Asquith Design
Partnership represent Sheffield’s metalworking history