Architecture News

Foster + Partners and Heatherwick Studio Among Firms Shortlisted for Planned Memorial to Queen Elizabeth II

View from the Blue Bridge near Marlborough Gate, St. James Park, London. The area will be the future location of a permanent memorial to Queen Elizabeth II. *Photo by Captain Galaxy, Wikimedia Commons*

More than two years after the death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96, the government of the United Kingdom has announced that five multidisciplinary design teams have been shortlisted to design a national public memorial in her honor at St. James Park, London.

The shortlisted teams—some comprising up to six members—aren’t strictly led by architecture practices. Some supporting firms, such as Arup, appear on multiple teams. They are:

Foster + Partners with artist Yinka Shonibare and landscape architect Michel Desvigne Paysagiste
Heatherwick Studio with sculptor Halima Cassell, landscape architecture practice MRG Studio, engineering consultant Webb Yates, and Arup
Landscape architecture practice J&L Gibbons with set designer Michael Levine, architecture studio Williams Matthews Associates, engineering consultant Structure Workshop, and Arup
Landscape architect and garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith with Jamie Fobert Architects, artist Adam Lowe of Factum Arte, and Structure Workshop
WilkinsonEyre with artists Lisa Vandy and Fiona Clark, garden designer Andy Sturgeon, structural engineering firm Atelier One, and multidisciplinary consultancy Hilson Moran.

Each of the five finalist teams now must submit a design concept by this spring; a winning team will be announced in the summer following review of each concept by the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee’s selection panel. “Design teams have been asked to create a memorial master plan that celebrates Queen Elizabeth II’s extraordinary life of service and provides a space for pause and reflection,” elaborates a formal announcement. “The designs will also be assessed against wider criteria, including value for money, placemaking, and visitor experience.

Once the winning team is announced, a sculptor or artist chosen by the committee to create a figurative representation of the Queen will be added to the mix.

A final design will be revealed in the summer of 2026, coinciding with what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 100^th birthday.

The future memorial will be realized at St. James Park in an area near where the Mall, a royal road running from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace, passes by Marlborough Gate. The location was selected due to its “proximity to the ceremonial route of the Mall, its historical and constitutional significance, and personal connection to Queen Elizabeth.”

While the shortlist doesn’t include any major curveballs, the inclusion of Foster + Partners has prompted British media outlets to mention, in hyperbolic terms, Norman Foster’s past criticism of King Charles. The King is not involved in the selection process.

Described as one of the most significant public design initiatives in modern British history, the memorial project has a provisional construction budget of roughly $58 million.

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KEYWORDS: London memorial

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Matt Hickman is senior news/digital editor at Architectural Record. Previously, he served as Senior Editor at The Architect’s Newspaper and has over a decade of experience as a freelance writer and editor specializing in historic preservation, public space, and the intersection of the natural world and built environment. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Matt holds an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from The New School.