Yesterday (19 December 2018) a planning application for the UK’s
new Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre was submitted to
Westminster city council.
A fundraising effort for the Memorial will be led by
philanthropist Gerald Ronson CBE, who will set up a new charity
to support its delivery.
The Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre has been proposed for
Victoria Tower Gardens next to Parliament.
The design for the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre has
been developed over the past year. It has been done in
consultation with Holocaust and other genocide survivors,
communities of a range of faiths and backgrounds, local
residents, businesses and key experts from landscape design to
Holocaust education.
Images of the final design were released on 4 December 2018,
alongside a Mission Statement setting out the UK Holocaust
Memorial’s commitment to stand up against antisemitism, prejudice
and hatred in all its forms.
By setting history’s worst example of the disintegration of
democratic values against the greatest emblem of Britain’s
aspirations for democracy, it will stand as a permanent reminder
of the responsibilities of citizens to be vigilant and responsive
whenever and wherever those values are threatened.
Communities Secretary Rt Hon MP said:
The Memorial will be a place of reflection and education in the
exceptional setting of Victoria Tower Gardens, and act as a
commitment for all of us to stand up whenever our shared values
are threatened.
The planning application submitted today is a key milestone in
this important national programme that will deliver a national
Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre at the heart of our
civic and democratic life.
Details of the design scheme
In 2016 Prime Minister launched a design competition
for a Memorial and underground Learning Centre in Victoria Tower
Gardens, adjacent to Parliament in Westminster.
The winning scheme was proposed by a team led by architects
Adjaye Associates, with Ron Arad Architects as Memorial
Architect, and Gustafson Porter + Bowman as Landscape Architect.
Their proposal set out to create “a living place, not just a
monument to something of the past” and the desire to create an
immersive journey for the visitor who would enter a Memorial
embedded in the landscape of the Gardens.
The jury found the proposal deftly resolved an essential
challenge of the brief: being visually arresting (“highly visible
from near and far”) yet showing sensitivity to its location and
context (“a bold and sensitive collaboration between
architecture, landscape, art and design”). The design was found
to have clear potential to be developed into an iconic memorial
and powerful educational experience, welcoming visitors from the
UK and beyond to learn and reflect.
The final design for the Memorial and Learning Centre consists of
23 bronze fins to the southern end of the Gardens. Visitors will
walk through an entrance pavilion, then across a courtyard where
they will be confronted with views of Parliament’s Victoria
Tower. The Learning Centre, accessed by pathways set between the
fins, is an integral part of the Memorial. Visitors will leave
with an improved understanding of the Holocaust and its impact on
the United Kingdom and people who live here or came to live here
following a genocide.
The landscape design embeds the Memorial within the park and
includes a new intervention – a subtle but distinct slope which
creates a new vantage point to the River Thames, a renewed
perspective and relationship to the Memorial, and a distinctive
entry point for an underground Learning Centre. This subtle shift
in the landscape also allows for all existing memorials within
the gardens to remain visible whilst key views into Westminster
are undisturbed.
It is expected that consultation letters on the proposal will be
sent out from Westminster city council in the new year.
See information on the final designs presented at
the latest public exhibition.
A Mission
Statement was set out for the Holocaust Memorial and
Learning Centre on 4 December 2018.
