Supporting the local community

The Marianne North Centre Hastings

The Marianne North Centre is more than just a vision to bring a botanic garden to Hastings and St Leonards-On-Sea. It will be a modern accessible community space that people will enjoy, relax, learn and draw inspiration from the life and achievements of Marianne North.

We aim to create a beautiful and peaceful environment that honours her legacy and inspires visitors to appreciate the natural world around us.

Engaging with the whole community is a cornerstone of The Marianne North Centre vision.

This is a striking example of one of the concept designs completed by students at East Sussex College (Hastings Campus), when they were set a brief to design a botanic garden here.

The cost effective dome shape and creative octopus feature represents Hastings natural affiliation and dependence on the sea - the Blue and the Green.

The Marianne North Centre vision is a community asset where Hastings Botanic Garden will be the focal point and main area, providing representative environments of the regions which are most influential in the Marianne North paintings.

This will include plants which have been attributed to Northia species from Borneo, South Africa and Australia.

Set alongside the Botanic Garden will be an interactive education gallery and digital space promoting educational

courses, visits and workshops.

Improving Hastings bio-diversity and promoting ‘think local’ the outside space will provide a series of design led

plots curated to inspire visitors to take ideas home.

Pollinating, Community, Edible, Coastal and

Dry weather planting appropriate to the climate

here on the South Coast are all considered choices.

Helping Hastings become an all year round location

1904 image of Hastings Winter Garden proposal

A Winter Garden has been proposed in Hastings since the 1870’s
A design opposite Warrior Square featured in a local newspaper supplement in May 1904

The idea re-emerged in early designs for Priory Meadow Shopping Centre, and the White Rock Masterplan 2017.

Significant developments in building design, materials and technology provide solutions which allow for traditional high energy buildings to be completed which are energy efficient, or carbon neutral, through reductions in waste and energy recycling.

The life cycle of the building is also considered in design. Increasingly ‘footprint’ builds are being considered so as to re-use existing footprints.

Hastings Winter garden representation c.1904

The Benefits of the Marianne North Centre

Sustainable job creation, thereby keeping young people in Hastings

Protecting indigenous plants and housing endangered species

Honouring Hastings’ botanic heritage

Economically regenerating the locality into a year-round tourist attraction

Providing Hastings with a landmark to connect with greenery on a national scale

Creating links with local schools, colleges and charity/voluntary organisations

Providing a community hub for the people of Hastings

Promoting public education with respect to Nature, especially towards the areas of the world that Marianne North visited - and building on refugeecommunity links

Promoting therapeutic horticulture for a wide range of local people, including the aged, disabled and neurodiverse.