Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Fountains

This Award is run in partnership with the Public Statues and Sculpture Association (PSSA) and is offered for a fountain which has been installed in a public place in the last two years.

Nominations for the Award go through a number of stages of judging by a panel consisting of specialists in the field.

For more information on the Awards and how to nominate please see here

Pictured: Bramham Park Fountain, restored by J N Bentley

This Award was previously run in partnership with the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA)

Writ in Water by Mark Wallinger 2021

An immersive water feature, situated at the National Trust property Runnymede in Surrey. A pool of water sits in the centre of a circular building, and the sides of the pool and building are inscribed with the words of Clause 39 of the Magna Carta which laid out the first laws for human rights in England. 

Previous Winners

'Forgotten Streams' by Cristina Iglesias

Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias was commissioned, among others, to create a site-specific work for the new Norman Foster-designed office for Michael Bloomberg’s European staff. Forgotten Streams flows gently through the heart of the capital’s financial district, appearing in three places in the pavement outside the financial media giant’s new £1 billion headquarters. The Fountain is cast in bronze, developing layers of matted shoreline along with differing water flows and pools.

This is Cristina Iglesias’ first public work in London. She is an installation artist and sculptor and lives and works in Torrelodones, Madrid. Cristina works with a variety of materials, including steel, water, glass, bronze, bamboo and straw. She was awarded the Tambor del Oro in 2016 and was the first Spanish woman invited to exhibit her work at the Folkestone Triennial in 2011.

'Goodman's Field Horses' by Hamish Mackie and Ustigate Ltd.

This fountain is made up of six giant bronze horses, each weighing a tonne and requiring over a kilometre of armature steel to make. ‘Goodman’s Field Horses’ sits at the centre of a seven acre development in Aldgate East, which will provide 1,038 new homes, 600 permanent jobs as well as a one acre public park. The sculptures were commissioned by Berkeley Home to bring alive the history of the site, where once Mr Goodman leased out the surrounding fields to London’s livery horses. The sculptures echo London’s rich equine history and highlight the profound relationship that a city built on horse-power has with this magnificent animal.

The fountain was designed by Hamish Mackie, a famous British wildlife sculptor, and was placed in the main piazza of the new Goodman’s Fields residual area, to celebrate British craftsmanship and the history of the local community.  To complete the movement of the horses, Ustigate Ltd were commissioned to create a water feature design which created animated water effects to give the horses a life like appearance.

Hamish Mackie began his career as a sculptor in a converted carthorse stable and became known for his ability to capture the essence, movement and energy of wild animals in their natural habitat. Ustigate Ltd are a family owned company who have been designing and building innovative and visually impactive water features for over 40 years, working with architects, builders and engineers from initial concepts to completion.

No Award was presented

'Parterre Garden Cascade' by JN Bentley

Bramham Park, in West Yorkshire, was one of the most important English landscape gardens of the eighteenth century. The gardens featured pools, canals and cascades as well as statues, temples and garden buildings.

The Parterre Garden cascade was a key element to the gardens. However, its heyday was short-lived due to early problems with the water supply. As a result, the pool, and thirty-step channel that fed it, were filled in and grassed over. For two and a half centuries, only the masonry of the cascade and the parterre terrace walls were visible.

JN Bentley took on the project of restoring the pool and cascade as a functioning water feature. The surviving structure was dismantled and a new water supply was installed. The stonework was carefully reconstructed, weathered stones were replaced, and the retaining wall was strengthened.

The restoration of the Cascade is a key element in the wider investment which has taken place at Bramham Park, led by the owners of the estate, the Lane-Fox family. The family have been well advised and supported by Durham University Archaeological services, Wessex Archaeology and Rodney Melville &Partners, amongst others.

City Park, Bradford, by the Fountain Workshop

City Park is a high-quality, six-acre public space in the heart of Bradford which contains the largest man-made water feature in any UK city. City Park provides a landscape comprising fountains, trees and attractive green spaces making an ideal environment for walking, relaxing and quiet contemplation. It is a critical part of Bradford’s regeneration and has been designed to bring jobs and prosperity to Bradford by attracting visitors and businesses into the district and helping to create the landscape for future investment.

City Park’s 4,000sq m mirror pool features more than 100 fountains, including the tallest in any UK city at 30m (100ft), laser light projectors and mist effects designed and installed by Fountain Workshop. This unique feature reflects and showcases the Grade 1-listed City Hall and sets Bradford apart. City Park and the mirror pool in particular is an adaptable environment which is capable of holding events such as carnivals, markets, theatre productions, screenings and community festivals.

The Fountain in Queen Square, Wolverhampton, by Ustigate Ltd.

Birmingham City Council

Market Cascade, Darlington Borough Council and the new font, Salisbury Cathedral

Toricelli, in Alnwick Gardens, Thales in the Queen's Jubilee Garden

Grand Vista Fountains, Battersea Park and Perseus and Andromeda, Witley Court

City of Sheffield, the National Botanic Garden of Wale, Westbury Estate Tenants and Residents of Association

The City of Birmingham for Victoria Square and Centenary Square