The design by the HED team, which collaborated with Andrew Moor Associates, Thorn Lighting Limited and KLH Sustainability, got a unanimous thumbs up from the jury after being shortlisted with four other practices.
The team will now work alongside the cathedral’s dean and chapter and other interested parties to turn its vision into reality.
Judges were impressed with the team's concentration on the welcome for visitors and a narration of Canterbury’s historic, cultural and architectural stories through contemporary artworks in glass and stone.
Deriving inspiration from the cathedral’s archives and glass art, the team suggested developing a pavement of etched ‘ledgers’ or large flagstones to form a new piazza, as well as a pilgrims’ bench with drinking fountains and basins and seasonal planting at the cathedral’s west front.
Proposals to restore lost flint walls, reintroduce herbs and wildflowers to the precincts and use highly-sustainable techniques to reclaim and recycle existing materials also impressed.
The competition was organised by Malcolm Reading of Malcolm Reading Consultants who also advised the jury.
He said the HED team had won because it took the brief of an exemplary and sustainable landscape design which recognises the spiritual, historic and national importance of the site to heart.
HED is a London-based landscape architect and masterplanner practice and was part of Team Stadium who worked on the Stadium Island landscaping for the London 2012 Games.
The Canterbury site, which provides the setting for the Grade I listed Cathedral and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, was last updated following the Second World War.
To see the winning design click here.
