The Royal Parks has announced a design competition for £35,000 for two pairs of gates to either end of the Rose Gardens in Hyde Park.
 
The Hyde Park Rose Garden is located in the south east corner of Hyde Park and was designed by Colvin and Moggridge Landscape Architects and opened in 1994. The design developed from the concept of horns sounding one's arrival into Hyde Park from Hyde Park Corner. The central circular area enclosed by the yew hedge is imagined to be the mouth of a trumpet or horn and the seasonal flower beds are the flaring notes coming out of the horn.
 
A grand pergola and two fountains are featured in the Rose garden.
 
The Boy and Dolphin Fountain by Alexander Munro (the great Pre-Raphaelite sculptor) dates from 1862. It is a marble sculpture of a cherub and dolphin on a rock in a basin. Once the centrepiece of the Victorian sunken garden that was demolished to make way for widening of Park Lane in the 1960s, it moved in 1962 to Broad Walk in Regent's Park and returned to Hyde Park in 1995.
 
The fountain statue of Diana the Huntress was sculpted by Lady Feodora Gleichen in 1899. Gleichen was the first female member of the Royal British society of sculptors. It was donated by the owner who commissioned it to Hyde Park in 1906.
 
The metal pergola was erected as part of the 1994 works; it is currently overgrown with climbing roses. The circular hub to the garden is enclosed by a rose arbour with pillars and chains.
 
The Rose Garden Gates design competition is part of the first stage of a project to renew and refresh the Hyde Park Rose Garden.
 
The purpose of the new gates is to signal the arrival into the Rose Garden, add to the quality of the visitor experience and the anticipation that they feel on arrival, help to create a destination place and through the design draw people into the site and help police the garden and improve security at night.
 
In the first stage of the renewal of the Rose Garden, the current low hooped boundary railings are being replaced by a 1.2m high metal railing with spear head finials finished in Royal Parks Green BS 12-B-29. These railings will follow the existing boundary and are due to be installed in January - February 2016.
 
The new bespoke gates will mark the arrival into the Rose Garden adding to the sense of place and enclosure, at the same time improving security. There are currently 8 gates into the Rose Garden. The design brief project is to look at the 2 main gates, one at either end of the main east-west path, they could both be the same, or different.
 
The two gates will be two-leaf gates, approximately 3m wide. The gates will remain open in the day and will be locked at night. The designs can be for two gates of the same or different design.
 
The gates must be sympathetic to the setting in a Grade 1 Listed Landscape, and the traditional railings on either side but could be either modern or traditional in their design.
 
There is a precedent for a modern design to park gates at the nearby Apsley Arch, the Queen Elizabeth Gates (1993) by Giuseppe Lund and the central screen by David Wynne. The theme of the gates is expected to blend in with the garden and its design concept although this is open to interpretation.
 
Design proposals should take into account a budget of £30-35K to fabricate and install the bespoke gates, including VAT. The winning designer will be able to recuperate design fees for this phase and must also identify costs for design development and supervision of the works.
 
The winner will work closely with the main contractor who will be managing the fabrication and installation of the gates, and oversee the project including completion of full design and installation .
 
The deadline for submissions is 5pm on 23 November and the winner will be eligible for a fee of up to £3,500.
 
Update:
This design opportunity has now closed.