6th Aug 2020: shortlist announced for Finsbury Circus gardens

The City of London Corporation has revealed the five firms shortlisted in its architectural design competition to transform the Grade II listed gardens at Finsbury Circus, in the Square Mile.

Measuring just under two acres, the site is the City’s largest open space and London’s first public park, receiving over two million visits year. It is reopening in August after being closed to the public for 10 years due to Crossrail works.

The City Corporation is seeking a joint bid from an architect and a landscaping business. Applicants were asked to come up with creative and sustainable design ideas to return the park not only into a multifunctional public space with a pavilion - but also to restore its historic features and transform it into a green sanctuary within the Square Mile.

The five firms shortlisted are:
Alvisi – Kirimoto Partners SRL
Architecture 00 Limited
Feilden Fowles Architects Limited
Hall McKnight (Partnership)
Paul Archer Design Limited

The shortlisted organisations will now progress to the design phase of the competition. Oliver Sells QC, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Open Spaces and City Gardens Committee, said: “We are excited to restore this key public space and I’m confident that this scheme will transform it once more into a green sanctuary. We are proud to be the guardians of this historic site and to support London’s architecture and landscaping firms in this endeavour. We will place equal importance on the design of the gardens and the buildings and I wish good luck to the five firms shortlisted.”

This tender was first published by TenderStream on 04.06.2020 and can be viewed in our archive here