St Editha’s Square, Tamworth

Tamworth Borough Council: along with providing a wide range of services for residents, many businesses based in Tamworth and the people who visit the borough, the Council is working to realise a vision called ‘Tamworth – celebrating our heritage, creating a better future’.

St Editha’s Square design merges two of the overarching conceptual ideas of tiles and textiles providing a design narrative to explore a collective design idea linked to the history of Tamworth. Public realm and landscape improvements to this area have been considered across the piece to ultimately achieve a consistent and unified whole with shared levels of quality, materials, street furniture, lighting and planting. Key elements of the design include:

• Creation of a large tile grid filled with different textured surfaces that allows clear views towards St Editha’s Church and provides a structuring element to the design.
• Creation of clear zones of activity for markets, events, and movement along with retention of the monument.
• Integration of new tree planting to align views and to help soften the space. The provision of rain gardens along paving banding ensures that storm water directed to the rain garden system will be used as a resource for vegetation.
• Integration of very large contemporary benches to provide seating in the spot that will receive the most sun.