Inventory Site Record

Jubilee Gardens is a landscaped park on the South Bank with mature trees, lawns and an enclosed adventure playground for children aged up to 11 years old. This was the site of the Dome of Discovery in the 1951 Festival of Britain. The Jubilee Gardens were created in 1976 and opened by Queen Elizabeth II for her Silver Jubilee in 1977. In the 1990s they were partially closed for 5 years while the Jubilee Line extension was being built and were subsequently re-turfed as a temporary measure prior to permanent re-landscaping. A memorial bronze sculpture by Ian Walters commemorating the International Brigade was commissioned by the GLC and installed in 1985, although not on the same site. The erection of the London Eye in 1999 has brought heavy footfall to the gardens, which have now been re-landscaped to designs of West 8. Jubilee Gardens re-opened on 31 May 2012 to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The gardens are adjacent to the Queen's Walk that runs along the Thames riverside.

Site location:

Belvedere Road / The Queen's Walk, Waterloo

Postcode:

SE1 7PG

What 3 Words:

volunteered.busy.neat

Type of site:

Public Park

Borough:

Lambeth

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

unrestricted (adventure playground open dawn - dusk)

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Playground; toilets (various facilities connected with County Hall and London Eye adjacent)

Events:

Public transport:

Rail/Tube: Waterloo (Northern, Waterloo and City, Jubilee, Bakerloo). Bus: 12, 76, 77, 148, 159, 211, 381, 453, 507

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

11/05/2023

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.jubileegardens.org.uk

The site of Jubilee Gardens is former backland; it was the site of the Dome of Discovery, the main exhibition feature of the 1951 Festival of Britain. The Jubilee Gardens were created in 1976, designed by Neville Conder and Stuart Taylor, and were opened by Queen Elizabeth II in the year of her Silver Jubilee in 1977. In 1985 a bronze sculpture, 'No Pasaran' by Ian Walter, was unveiled in Jubilee Gardens by the then Labour Leader Michael Foot. It was commissioned by the GLC to stand near County Hall as a memorial to the British members of the International Brigade who had gone to Spain to fight with the Republican forces against Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War 1936-39. The sculpture is not in its original location due to the subsequent redevelopments in Jubilee Gardens. Ian Walter has created sculptures in other London parks, including Fenner Brockway in Red Lion Square (q.v.) and Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square (q.v.). In 1987, following the demise of the GLC, ownership of the park and the adjacent County Hall passed to the London Residual Body, which sold County Hall to the Shiryama Corporation with covenants over areas of the park.

The gardens were partially closed for 5 years in the 1990s while the Jubilee Line extension was being built and were re-turfed as a temporary measure prior to permanent new landscaping. In 1994 the freehold of Jubilee Gardens and Hungerford Car Park passed to the Arts Council of England and the land was then transferred to the South Bank Centre on a long lease. The erection of the London Eye in 1999 greatly increased the public usage of the site, which at that time was largely grassed with paths across it and some shrub planting, while future landscaping was still under consideration. Jubilee Park Steering Group, bringing together local stakeholders together with the South Bank Centre and CABE, then launched a design competition in order to transform Jubilee Gardens. Although in 1999 Dutch landscape architect Adriaan Geuze had been commissioned to redesign the park (South Bank News, winter 1999), this initial scheme did not go ahead. In June 2005 landscape designers West 8, of which Geuze is a partner, were selected as the winning design team for the new park and contractors Frost Landscape Construction Ltd were appointed to carry out the work.

Jubilee Gardens were officially completed on 31 May 2012 and re-opened in the presence of Kate Hoey, MP for Vauxhall, and in time for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. Features of the new gardens include flowerbeds planted with geraniums, granite paths and seating, lighting columns and a new playground that has a ‘timber tangle’, ‘jungle arena’, ‘spider web’ and a flock of wooden sheep. 69 mature trees have been planted, with species including English and pin oak, common beech, red beech, sweet gum, bald cypress and small-leaved lime. 

The Jubilee Gardens Trust, made up of residents’ organisations, local businesses and neighbouring landowners, is the local charity responsible for the management and maintenance of Jubilee Gardens.

Sources consulted:

Ian Yarham, Michael Waite, Andrew Simpson, Niall Machin, 'Nature Conservation in Lambeth', Ecology Handbook 26 (London Ecology Unit), 1994; South Bank News, winter 1999; Jubilee Gardens Trust: https://jubileegardens.org.uk/history-jgt/;  https://stuffaboutlondon.co.uk/london/no-pasaran-the-jubilee-gardens-memorial/

Grid ref:

TQ307799 (530750,179950)

Size in hectares:

2.13

Site ownership:

Arts Council of England leased to Jubilee Gardens Trust

Site management:

Jubilee Gardens Trust

Date(s):

1976

Designer(s):

Neville Conder/Stuart Taylor (1976); Adriaan Geuze (1999-2012)

Listed structures:

LBII*: County Hall

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

South Bank

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Metropolitan (Thames)

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

Yes

Special Policy Area:

Yes - Thames Policy Area

Other LA designation:

Park Regeneration Area

Jubilee Gardens - Photo: Colin Wing
Date taken: 04/06/12 11:49

Click a photo to enlarge.