Renovation of the area in front of the Tourist Information Centre, St Peter Port.
Following the successful renovation of the North Plantation, Floral Guernsey Council were approached to address the area to the front of the Information Centre.
Previously, the greater part of the area was of hoggin, with several steps in unexpected places which presented a trip hazard. A boards with Event information on were scattered about. The whole area was extremely unfriendly to chair users.
As the area is in the centre of town, with a very high footfall, the greatest attention to detail was required.
Our wish was to include as much greenery as possible as well as a multipurpose arena that could be used for a variety of entertainment and exhibitions.
Culture and Leisure used the project to upgrade their display boards with the Constables of St Peter Port supplying the YAH board.
We also thought we would introduce a bit of fun!
The ‘perches’ were inspired by the plant ‘ Petasites japonicus’ that grows half way up Sark Hill. When the original concept of lily pad type leaves floating in the air proved too expensive to manufacture in quantity, a friend suggested using vintage tractor seats. As Guernsey has a strong agricultural past, we felt that this would work very well. The seats used are recovered from old tractors, renovated and restored by the Guernsey Probabation Services team ( with some professional assistance from Graham Brown Ltd.)
Several criteria informed the design
Sweeping built benches were dismissed as we did not wish to encourage skateboarding in the area.
Traditional benches were dismissed as we did not wish to encourage people to stay for extended periods.
There are few people who cannot access the seats and these we invite to utilise the edges of the granite troughs as resting places. Children appear to love them!
It was never our intention ( in fact, the exact opposite ) to provide a place for people to sit, eat lunch and admire the view. This can be done in a multitude of adjacent locations – the Crown Pier, the North Plantation, all along the harbour wall from the Careening Hard to the White Rock. For complete comfort, there is the interior of the Information Centre itself! Moreover, the plan for the wider area is to permanently close the access road behind and allow the various catering establishments to serve alfresco refreshment. We have been delighted to observe people sitting on the seats having their photo’s taken, studying their maps, planning their day – it is for this that the perches were designed.
Floral Guernsey invested over £30K of sponsorship monies, generously donated by HSBC to fund the project. We have created a multi use performance arena with lighting and dedicated power supply. Two planted areas and several troughs supply floral effect, the information boards are now fit for purpose and future proofed. An area accessible to all which has already begun to be used for the designed purpose.
We hope the people of Guernsey will join us in thanking our sponsors for making this possible.