Alkerden Major Urban Park

Alkerden Major Urban Park Public Art Plan

FrancisKnight have been appointed by Henley Camland to lead on the public art programme for Alkerden Major Urban Park and to produce a public art plan to enhance the existing Area Masterplan & Design Code and overarching Public Art Strategies. This public art plan will add a sense of place and purpose to the site, identifying areas for commissioning permanent public art works.

Alkerden, also known as the ‘Central Village’, provides the Market Centre to the Whitecliffe development. Alkerden connects the whole of Whitecliffe to its immediate location and beyond and occupies a central position within the wider Whitecliffe site between Castle Hill to the east and Ashmere to the west. To the immediate west of Alkerden is the Major Urban Park, the largest green link between Alkerden and Ashmere with a north-south sequence of varying and distinct open spaces connected as one expansive linear park.   

The public art plan will set out ambitions to ensure that Alkerden Major Urban Park will provide opportunities for artists to create new work that resonates with the unique location, its cultural history both past and present, contributing significantly to making a distinctive, unique and attractive place to live, work and visit.

Christopher Tipping has been appointed as the Principal Artist who will work in collaboration with FrancisKnight and the design team, to set a broad artistic overarching concept for the public art plan. Christopher is an experienced artist who has worked in both public and private spaces. His projects focus on place & identity with creative site analysis and contextual research underpinning the design process. He takes inspiration from the natural world but is equally inspired by our built environment, how communities grow and the way we navigate & use man-made spaces.  Through public engagement and consultation, Christopher Tipping and FrancisKnight, will develop a public art plan which will draw upon the importance of the heritage and history of Alkerden Manor.