Prestonpans Civic Square

Prestonpans Civic Square is the principal public space in the East Lothian coastal town. The regeneration of the square was driven by Prestonpans Community Council in partnership with East Lothian Council. The square had become tired and a magnet for anti-social behaviour. It was a place people avoided rather than enjoyed and did not provide an appropriate civic setting for the Category B listed war memorial designed by William Birnie Rhind (RSA) in 1922. The design brief required: removal of an elevated viewing platform on the west side of the square that was inaccessible to many and was no longer considered fit for purpose; to continue to protect and conserve the war memorial; to make available additional space within the square (not on the existing memorial) for missing or new memorial names; to create a flexible public realm for community events and gatherings including remembrance day; to introduce accessible views to the Firth of Forth from the high street and square; to encourage users of the John Muir Way to stop in Prestonpans; to provide interpretation of the built, natural and cultural assets of the town. Removal of the viewing platform returned the memorial to the centre of the space becoming the main focus once again. A series of subtle design approaches were introduced to reinforce this condition: improving the memorial setting by incorporating the expansive views of the Firth of Forth and Fife beyond via a juliet balcony and picture window cut into the rear wall making these views accessible to all, and part of the composition of the civic square for the first time; providing space for additional memorial names hand carved on a new pink sandstone tablet to match the original memorial and aligned with the picture window slot; a new natural stone surface articulated through unit size and pattern to frame the memorial space and link to the balcony via an inground hand carved interpretative route; restoration and repair of the boundary wall; introduction of planting to the space for the first time with a native Scots Pine as a counterpoint to the memorial; introduction of vertical slots to the east and west walls that open up views to the memorial from the John Muir Way that passes along the coast; addition of simple, accessible seating to invite occupancy of the space. The civic square was re-opened in December 2022, 100 years after the memorials unveiling.