- Their design proposal was selected from a shortlist of five concepts by acclaimed teams.
- Includes a new bridge inspired by the late Queen’s wedding tiara, a Prince Philip Gate and new gardens.
- Final plans for the memorial in St James’ Park will be announced next year.
Foster + Partners has won the competition to design the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II.
Five finalist teams were asked to create a masterplan that would honour and celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s extraordinary life of service and provide the public with a space for reflection.
Foster + Partners’ winning design concept celebrates Queen Elizabeth’s life through a time of great change, balancing tradition and modernity, public duty and private faith, the United Kingdom and a global Commonwealth. The design concept illustrates how she brought these dualities together: two gates, two gardens, joined by a bridge and unifying path.
Foster + Partners’ design concept features figurative sculptures and a new Prince Philip Gate. It also features gardens – dedicated to the Commonwealth and the communities of the United Kingdom – to create spaces for reflection and coming together. Artistic installations will celebrate the nation’s diversity. A new bridge, replacing the existing Blue Bridge, will feature a cast-glass balustrade that recalls Queen Elizabeth’s wedding tiara.
This design concept will be subject to change as it undergoes refining, and later planning permission.
The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee’s selection panel found Foster + Partners’, design, balancing formal and informal elements, impressive and capable of creating an engaging landmark to endure for generations to come. The panel also valued Foster + Partners’ artistry, use of space, technical skills and their sensitivity to the memorial’s location.
The winning team includes artist Yinka Shonibare CBE and celebrated landscape designer, Michel Desvigne.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said:
“Queen Elizabeth II was admired around the globe. Foster + Partners’ fantastic design concept will be a beautiful memorial to Her life and legacy of public service. Situated in the heart of our capital, it will be a space to reflect on and celebrate our longest reigning Monarch for centuries to come.”
The panel selected Foster + Partners’ design concept from a shortlist of proposals by five leading multidisciplinary teams. During the competition the public were encouraged to give their views on the design concepts to commemorate the UK’s longest reigning Monarch.
The Committee also consulted experts in arts, heritage, architecture, structural engineering, placemaking and accessibility to find the best concept to honour Queen Elizabeth.
Committee Chair Robin Janvrin said:
“Selecting the winner was no easy task. All five of the shortlisted teams produced creative designs of the highest quality.
“Foster + Partners’ ambitious and thoughtful masterplan will allow us and future generations to appreciate Queen Elizabeth’s life of service as she balanced continuity and change with strong values, common sense and optimism throughout her long reign.”
Committee member Valerie Amos said:
“Foster + Partners’ design brings to life Queen Elizabeth’s many contributions to the lives of people across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Their ambitious design will create a beautiful space for people to come together, reflect on her legacy and share stories for generations to come.”
Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners Norman Foster said:
“It is an honour and a privilege for our team to be awarded this project. Her Majesty loved history and tradition, so this is reflected in the inspiration of the original design of St James’s Park by Sir John Nash. Some of his principles have survived, whilst others have been lost and will be restored, creating a family of gardens joined by gently meandering paths.
“I knew The Queen on formal occasions but also enjoyed her informality when attending events as a member of the Order of Merit. We have sought to reflect these qualities of the formal and informal in our design, with an appeal across a wide range of ages and interests. To these ends, we have discreetly stretched the boundaries of art and technology with a deliberately gentle intervention. Our design will have the minimum impact on the nature and biodiversity of the Park and it will be phased to ensure that the precious route across it will never be closed.
“At the heart of our masterplan is a translucent bridge symbolic of Her Majesty as a unifying force, bringing together nations, countries, the Commonwealth, charities and the armed forces.”
Foster + Partners will now develop its initial concept in close partnership with the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee. They will work together to select a sculptor to design the memorial’s figurative element. The Committee will announce the sculptor later this year.
The memorial will be located in St James’s Park, an area of historical and constitutional significance, which also has a personal connection to Queen Elizabeth II. It will include an area of the Park adjacent to The Mall at Marlborough Gate, an area adjacent to Bird Cage Walk and replace the existing bridge between the two with a new crossing.
The final design will be formally announced in April 2026, alongside a legacy programme, to coincide with what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s hundredth birthday year.
Notes to Editors
- Download images here.
- The winner and finalists’ design concepts are available to view here.
- Because the sculptor for the figurative element has not yet been selected, any figurative representations in Foster + Partners’ proposals are purely for illustrative purposes.
- In addition to a built memorial, the Committee is also continuing its work to develop proposals for a UK-wide legacy programme to commemorate Queen Elizabeth.
- The full winning team:
- Foster + Partners – Creative Lead; Contractual Lead; Project Manager; Architect; Structural & MEP Engineer; Landscape & Horticulture coordination; Lighting Designer; Sustainability; Principal Designer
- Yinka Shonibare CBE – Artist
- Nigel Dunnett Studio – Ecology Consultant
- Michel Desvigne Paysagiste – Landscape Architect
- Studio Adrien Gardere – Memorial Curator
- 2x4 – Digital Designer & Wayfinding Consultant
- Eckersley O’Callaghan – Glass Structure Engineers
- David Bonnett Associates – Accessibility Consultant
- DP9 – Planning Consultant
- Purcell – Heritage Consultant
- Space Syntax – Pedestrian Flow Consultant
- Gardiner & Theobald – Cost Consultant
- Arup – Logistics & Security Consultant
- The four runner-up design teams were (in alphabetical order by lead consultant):
- Heatherwick Studio with Halima Cassell, MRG Studio, Webb Yates and Arup
- J&L Gibbons with Michael Levine RDI, William Matthews Associates, Structure Workshop and Arup
- Tom Stuart-Smith with Jamie Fobert Architects, Adam Lowe (Factum Arte) and Structure Workshop
- WilkinsonEyre with Lisa Vandy and Fiona Clark, Andy Sturgeon Design, Atelier One and Hilson Moran
About Foster + Partners
- Foster + Partners is a global studio for architecture, urbanism and design, rooted in sustainability, which was founded in 1967 by Norman Foster.
- Design is at the core of everything that we do. The studio integrates the skills of architecture with engineering, both structural and environmental, urbanism, interior and industrial design, research and technology and many more – our collegiate working environment is similar to a compact university. These diverse skills make us capable of tackling a wide range of projects at different scales, from door handles to masterplans.
- Over the years, the practice has worked on a number of site-specific interventions, which are in dialogue with their natural surroundings.
- These projects include Maggie’s Manchester, a place of refuge for people affected by cancer in a garden setting; Vatican Chapel, Pavilion of the Holy See, a timber pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale set in wooded landscape; Harlem Boathouse, a project that seeks to transform the lives of people in the local community on the banks of the river; and the Great Glasshouse, the centrepiece of the 230-hectare National Botanic Garden of Wales. Each one of these projects offers spaces for reflection, provides a sense of unity, and enhances connections with the natural world.
