Gustafson Porter's Diana Memorial 'is sinking'

Gustafson Porter's Diana Memorial 'is sinking'

3 January, 2008 | By Richard Vaughan

The spectre of the Princess Diana memorial fountain in west London's Hyde Park is back to haunt landscape architect Gustafson Porter, with reports of it being an ‘engineering disaster’.

According to an engineering consultant hired to look at the ill-fated fountain, the memorial will have to be rebuilt.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Bob Monroe, of Cirencester Engineers, said the fountain is sinking and leaking hundreds of litres of water a day.

Monroe said: ‘The fountain is a disaster. Hundreds of litres are leaking away every day and as a result it’s causing subsidence and making the paths rise up and buckle.

‘The only way to fix the problem is to pull it all down and start again. Otherwise it will continue to fall apart and more and more money will be spent on it.’

Royal Parks, which is responsible for the fountain, said the fountain is experiencing ‘minor leakage’.

The memorial was forced to close the day after it was opened by the Queen in 2004 due to flooding after storms. It was later shut for nearly six months in 2005 so repair works could be carried out.