Journal
Living Memory
When landscape architect Peter Hutchinson won the competition to design the Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross Foundation Garden in Belfast, he was unprepared for the impact the project would have on him. The brief was to include a space that would tell the story of policing in Northern Ireland, as well as creating a Garden of Remembrance for those that had died or were injured in service during the RUC’s existence from Ireland’s partition in 1922 until the force was disbanded in 2002 – a period of immense turmoil and change. Creating any memorial or monument to the deceased takes its emotional toll, but this project was particularly sensitive, and Peter found himself increasingly drawn in. “It became important to me not just as a project, but on a very personal level,” he says. “The sacrifices made by the RUC and its wider family, and the part it played in the province during its lifetime should, I believe, be properly marked.” Discuss this article
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