Felixstowe has suffered from a declining tourist economy. In 2006 a strategic plan recommended that the town recognised its heritage assets and ‘pursues a strategy of promoting its strengths as a traditional British resort, set in a fine Edwardian built environment’.A key site in the strategy was the gardens, which were in a state of dilapidation with many elements comprising complex and often unstable assemblages.The client followed the democratic mandate of the local communities’ overwhelming support for the gardens project and focussed the economic regeneration of the town on conserving and restoring its heritage assets. The design team advised the client, and the client accepted, that the designer should have a part-time presence on the site, to allow it to resolve complex construction issues rapidly. The gardens now comprise a series of interconnected spaces, rockwork and water features which together with ornamental planting, impart great diversity of visual interest.
