Renowned international architecture firm 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 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 UK 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.
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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 UK – 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. However, this design concept will be subject to change as it undergoes refining.
The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee’s selection panel said that it 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.
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The winning team includes artist Yinka Shonibare and celebrated landscape designer, Michel Desvigne.
The panel selected Foster + Partners’ design concept from a shortlist of proposals by five leading multidisciplinary teams. During the competition, the public was encouraged to give its 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.
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‘Selecting the winner was no easy task. All five of the shortlisted teams produced creative designs of the highest quality,’ said committee chair Robin Janvrin. ‘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.’
‘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,’ said Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partner. ‘Some of his principles have survived, while 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,’ he continued. ‘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.’
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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.
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The final design will be formally announced in April 2026, alongside a legacy programme, to coincide with what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 100th birthday year.