A key decision set to go before Hull City Council’s Cabinet could allocate a further £7m for the Queens Gardens refurbishment.
The project has been enhanced significantly since being approved in 2019 and following subsequent public consultations.
Councillor Daren Hale, leader of Hull City Council, said: “We are committed to delivering the best possible scheme for our residents and city. Queens Gardens is an iconic and much-loved place, but it is in desperate need of investment.
“Queens Gardens will not just be a unique urban green space and destination to rival anywhere in the country, it will also act as a first-class venue and performance space, and a crucial site for flood defence and alleviation.
“This refurbishment is an important element in both the transformational Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project and our investment in the city’s open spaces. In recent years our commitment to investing in places such as East Park, Pearson Park and West Park has greatly benefited residents, playing an important role in their health and wellbeing – which has been invaluable during lockdown and the pandemic.”
The Queens Gardens refurbishment complements the delivery of the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project through providing improvements to an important pedestrian route between the Hull Maritime Museum and North End Ship Yard.
The Queens Gardens refurbishment is an integral part of the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project as it will link the Hull Maritime Museum to the North End Shipyard – which will be the new home of the historic Arctic Corsair. Reflecting 400 years of shipbuilding history, the North End Shipyard is where both HMS Bounty and HMS Boreas, once commanded by Horatio Nelson, were built. The shipyard is being transformed into a new visitor attraction, which will tell its rich story for the first time.
The Queens Gardens scheme now includes a more comprehensive refurbishment of the Rose Bowl, which includes the restoration of the historic fountain. Additional highways improvements have also been added to the network surrounding the gardens.
The unique nature and history of the Gardens, as a former dock, has also contributed to an increase in costs as there are significant amounts of work required across the space, which additional site investigation work revealed.
The existing walls on the north and south side of the Gardens have no structural pinning, nor tree barriers to protect them from the extensive tree planting to the upper side of the walls, so over the years have been severely damaged. Their foundations need to be repaired before the new walls can be built.
The proposed spend on Queens Gardens continues a recent tradition of spending on parks and open spaces, with both Pearson Park and East Park having had significant redevelopment in recent years.
