granite foundation stones
20 June 2023
Carved for the City of London Police & Law Courts
The 45,785 sqm Salisbury Square development on Fleet Street will house the City of London Police Headquarters and the City of London Law Courts. The latter will have 18 courtrooms combining magistrates, civil and crown courts in one flagship facility. Construction will not be complete for another five years, but the foundation stones, which were carved by stoneCIRCLE, were unveiled in a ceremony recently.
Szerelmey and Eric Parry Architects commissioned us to carve two foundation stones: one for the City of London Law Courts and one for the Police Headquarters in Zimbabwe Black granite. Each was 150mm thick x 2.1m high x 1.5m wide and weighed in at over 1300kg.
The turbulent state of UK politics meant we had to reface and recut the inscriptions before the then Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Brandon Lewis, unveiled them in a ceremony on 18th October 2022.
The stones were delivered to the site for the unveiling and then returned to us to be stored for five years until they can be incorporated into the finished buildings.