Member Article

Leeds companies support the transformation of victoria gardens

Leeds companies Adept Civil and Structural Consulting Engineers and DLA Design have collaborated on a project with Leeds City Council to temporarily transform Victoria Gardens in the city centre into a fun area for people of all ages to enjoy and relax in.
Victoria Gardens, which sits at the front of Leeds Art Gallery on The Headrow, is now a pop-up pavilion and play space for two weeks, with a full schedule of seminars and activities planned, until 28th August. Known as Park Here & Play, the project will mark the countdown to the reopening of Leeds Art Gallery in October.
The design follows an ideas competition with Leeds Beckett University alumni, which was won by Bo Muchemwa and Steven McCloy who came up with an innovative design known as ‘Redscape’. The pair graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2010 with first-class degrees and have collaborated with artist Trudi Entwistle on the design, which uses hundreds of red and white plastic traffic barriers to create assembled structures that feel like an enclosed garden. DLA Design then turned the design into a reality and Adept volunteered to oversee the structural design of all the site’s structures and installations, as well as creating a wind and weather management plan for the scheme. Erol Erturan, Managing Director at Adept, says: “This is a superb project to be involved with. It has transformed one of the city’s centres most popular public spaces into a fun, attractive and enticing area, on the back of input from a wide range of leading creative thinkers. The result is an inspiring and inviting space that will be popular with Leeds city centre’s workers, residents, visitors and children alike.”
John Orrell, director of DLA Design, added: “This has been a unique opportunity to collaborate with the council and the gallery and raise the bar for the potential of our public spaces. We have built upon our previous projects to realise a much more ambitious design that will be free for everyone to enjoy and encourage all to see their city from a different perspective.” Park Here & Play follows a previous temporary intervention delivered by DLA Design on St Paul’s Street and the popular pop up park on Cookridge Street by Leeds City Council.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Mortimer .