30-Jan-2020

Important Information on the Memorial opening

The British Normandy Memorial will be open to the public on 5 September 2020.

Watch this video update containing an important message about the opening of the Memorial from Founding Trustee, Nicholas Witchell.

Below the video, the Trust shares a summary of the construction works that have taken place since the start of 2020 plus access to the Memorial site webcam.

https://vimeo.com/387748528

Construction work has progressed at pace since the start of the year. For up-to-date images of the site, you can view construction company Eiffage’s webcam.

On the West site – where the Memorial sits – Eiffage and their construction partner, Spie Batignolles, have finished pouring the foundations for the Memorial Pergola and the French Memorial, meaning it is now fully out of the ground.

Hidden within the scaffolding at the centre of the site sits the Memorial Court. Master stonemasons S. McConnell & Sons have made excellent progress on the heart of the Memorial and they have now erected more than half of the stones. The wall sits more than 5 metres high and Richard Kindersley’s hand-carved extracts from speeches by King George VI, Sir Winston Churchill and Charles De Gaulle look magnificent. Outside the scaffolding, the East Pergola is complete, while the first stones for the pillars on the West Pergola are now in place. It is expected that by the end of March the whole Pergola will be complete.

The landscape design from architects Philip Cave will begin to take shape over the coming weeks. The trees and hedges have been selected and planting will begin shortly across the whole site, with the majority of this work to be completed by the end of Spring.