Leicester Square reopened to the public on Wednesday 23rd May revealing what the past 17 months of reconstruction work have all been for. London Mayor Boris Johnson, who officially re-opened the square, described the new Leicester Square as a “beacon for world premieres and stars of the silver screen”.
The project, carried out by
SIAC Construction, has involved using 150,000 granite blocks in 17 different sizes to replace every paving stone in the square, with a ribbon seating area bordering the central gardens in white granite together with a water feature that sends jets of recycled water two metres into the air around the Shakespeare statue.
The square’s trees have been fitted with uplighters to make visitors feel safe at night. Hardscape’s Technical Manager, Asil Besim commented “It’s been a long hard road and this prestigious scheme is one of many in the capital where Hardscape are involved and we are extremely proud to have supplied all of the hard landscape materials and bespoke features to the scheme liaising with both the architects, Burns+Nice, the contractors, SIAC Construction, and the client, Westminster City Council.”