Picture of Austin-Smith:Lord with plans

Stoneguard Phoenix Award

Extract from Press Release

Austin-Smith:Lord wins Stoneguard Phoenix Award for Muslim Cemetery in Hainault

Austin-Smith:Lord is to be presented with the Stoneguard Phoenix Awards 2003 first prize Premier Award for overall 'Total Concept' design for its "Gardens of Peace" Muslim Cemetery in Hainault. The award recognises the quality of the project's design and reflects the support that has been built for the Cemetery in the local area.

The £1000 cash prize will be awarded to Austin-Smith:Lord at a presentation ceremony on 5 April in the Chapel at Brompton Cemetery as part of the Grounds for Burial Conference 2003, organised by the Association of Burial Authorities.

Austin-Smith:Lord's design for the "Gardens of Peace" Cemetery was completed to Phase 1 stage in December 2002 and covers an 8.7 hectare site in the Hainault greenbelt. The local Muslim community purchased the site, prompted by the difficulties associated with accommodating traditional Muslim burial in predominantly Christian cemeteries due to the practices of orientation to Mecca and prompt burial following death. The design has been informed not only by adherence to the particular requirements inherent in traditional Muslim burial but also by the intent to create a memorable landscape and an enhanced local ecological resource.

The concept has been to fashion an evolving woodland Cemetery and forming a grid orientated towards Mecca. Water, highly valued in Islamic culture, has been made a key feature in the Cemetery through the reinstatement of the Seven Kings Water, a former canalised ditch, into a meandering stream. The water physically and psychologically separates the burial area from the entrance and a planned Ceremonial Building. The noise of cascading water masks road and background noises while the bridging of the stream has been made a focal point of the Cemetery leading to a prayer area. All plots are marked by the same simple engraved stone with trees planted at 5m intervals between graves, to form, along with generous planting around the site boundary, the evolving wooded landscape.

National recognition of the Muslim Cemetery through the Stoneguard Phoenix Award is demonstration of the support that has been built for the scheme locally and nationally.
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Project Team
Architect: Austin-Smith:Lord
Structural &Civil Engineer: Alan Baxter & Associates
Geo Environmental Engineering: Austin Geotech
Contractor: Blakedown
Quantity Surveyor & Project Manager: Burr & Neve
Client: Gardens of Peace Muslim Cemetery Trust

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Shely Bryan or Debbie Whitfield at Caro Communications
T 020 7713 7010 F 020 7713 7011 E pr@carocommunications.com