Work begins on The Hepworth Wakefield Garden
29 Jan 2019
Work on the 4,000 sqm site began on Monday 28 January 2019.
Today, The Hepworth Wakefield announces that work has officially started on The Hepworth Wakefield Garden. The strip of vacant land adjacent to the gallery is being transformed into a beautifully landscaped garden by world renowned designer Tom Stuart-Smith.
To bring the project to life, the gallery are working with Hull-based construction company Houlton, who this year are celebrating their 140th anniversary in the construction industry.
Earlier in the month, it was announced that major new grants from The Foyle Foundation (£100,000) and The Wolfson Foundation (£150,000) took the total raised for the garden to over £1.5million, meaning that work could commence on this ambitious project.
Now that work on the 4,000 sqm site has started, The Hepworth Wakefield will continue fundraising so that the beautifully landscaped garden can be finished by summer 2019, creating a major new and free visitor attraction for Wakefield.
Andrew Kingston, Managing Director of Houlton said: “We’re excited to break ground on this significant development of Wakefield Waterfront today and are especially pleased to work on such a flagship project for Yorkshire during our 140th anniversary year. Having looked over the plans, we have several interesting features to construct over the next few months. It is not your usual construction scheme and will have its challenges, but the opportunity to be able to turn Tom Stuart-Smith’s vision into a reality for the people of Wakefield and visitors to the gallery could not be missed and will be celebrated for many years to come.”
