Exhibition & Brandling Park Developments
Compiled from notes at a recent presentation to the Management Committee
Located in the heart of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Exhibition Park is a popular urban green space. There has been a park on this site for over a century and it was originally created as part of the 1870 Newcastleupon-Tyne Improvement Act. The park has hosted a range of events including the Royal Jubilee exhibition in 1887 and the North East Coast Exhibition in 1929 which attracted 4m visitors.
The £2.4m Newcastle grant received this summer of 2011 will renovate Exhibition Park in the city centre, restoring the croquet pavilion with other work on the park including a new wildlife havens on the fringes of the lake and extensions to its “bee highways”. The park forms part of a network which also includes window boxes in the city centre and gardens going out into the suburbs.
The money from the Heritage Lottery Fund is a major development in a community drive by the Exhibition and Brandling Parks Community Trust. The Trust has already played a leading role in upgrading nearby Brandling Park and creating a sensory garden in Exhibition Park. The injection of money will pay for improvements such as drainage, electricity, water and sanitary provision so that the park can continue its tradition of hosting major events.
There will be new tennis and basketball courts, conservation of the listed bandstand, boathouse and croquet pavilion, work to improve access, an Edwardian-style entrance off Claremont Road, improved planting and the lake will be dredged of silt and cleaned.
The listed rotunda building is the only survivor of a spectacular “city” created for the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition and was built to a sturdier design as the Palace of Arts because it housed a valuable display. It was later to become the Museum of Science and Engineering and then the Military Vehicle Museum, but now lies empty and deteriorating. It has been suggested that the building would be marketed to see if there is any commercial interest. However it is estimated that it could cost around 1 million pounds to refurbish and that might mean a council-commercial partnership and a search for extra funding.
City and County
November 2011
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