Yorkshire Sculpture Park: new visitor centre to open

The Weston is made from layered pigmented concrete with a wildflower roof

A £3.6m visitor centre housing a new gallery, restaurant and shop is to open at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP).

The Weston will make more room for visitors to the park in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, which welcomed more than 480,000 people in 2017.

The low-profile building has been designed to fit into the landscape and is made from layered pigmented concrete with a wildflower roof.

It has been named after the Garfield Weston Foundation which part-funded it.

The foundation's funding comes from an endowment of shares in the family business which includes Twinings, Primark, Kingsmill and Fortnum and Mason.

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YSP said the new gallery would showcase a changing programme of exhibitions, starting with an interactive project by the Indian artists Thukral and Tagra.

The building, at the east entrance to the park, was designed by architects Feilden Fowles and constructed by Yorkshire-based company William Birch.

It has been shortlisted for the 2019 RIBA Yorkshire Awards, which are to be held in May.

The building has been shortlisted for a RIBA Yorkshire award

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is situated less than one mile away from the M1 at junction 38

As well as the Garfield Weston Foundation, the project was supported by organisations including Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, The Foyle Foundation and visitors to the park, who contributed more than £50,000 in donations.