The scheme, initially commissioned to commemorate the Policewoman Nina McKay was subsequently extended to honour all officers of the Metropolitan Police who lost their lives while on active service.
The garden is structured around three ascending terraces, leading from the ceremonial aspects of the parade ground to an upper level for quiet contemplation. This sequence of spaces focuses on the memorial stone, which establishes a formal axis running through the centre of the garden.
The three terraces are separated by 2 small water rills which run across their full width. To the rear of each rill is a single line of red roses, the petals from which fall into the rills being carried along by the gentle flow of water. The petals symbolise the ephemeral nature of life while the flow of the water represents the ever flowing river of mankind.
The planting is arranged in ranks, white trunks of birch trees contrasting with a dark slate mulch. Bands of tall grasses establish zones of light and shade, their flower stems swaying in the wind introducing movement and animation. The formality of the planting signifies the unity of the police as a force, the structured rhythm to the soft landscape contrasting with a less regular character to elements of the hard landscape including rows of standing stones.
The scheme was one of 8 projects short listed within the 2002 Better Public Building Competition, the first landscape project to receive this recognition. It was also featured on the front page of the January 2003 issue of the Architects Journal.
