FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10 November 2025
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Crowdfunder launched inviting the public to support Dundee’s Covid Community Memorial Garden.
On Monday 10th November 2025, UNESCO City of Design Dundee launched a Crowdfunder inviting the public to support the creation of Dundee’s Covid Community Memorial Garden. Contributions will go towards this free, permanent memorial garden and greenspace which will be situated next to Moncur Crescent Playpark, on Caird Avenue.
The Crowdfunder will close on Friday 30th January 2026 and donations can be made by visiting: https://crowdfunder.co.uk/p/dundee-covid-community-memorial
Dundee’s Covid Community Memorial Garden, due to be installed by Autumn 2026, will be a colourful labyrinth where people can come together to reflect and connect with others and nature.
The garden is the outcome of Dundee’s participation in a national project across 32 local authority areas in Scotland called Remembering Together. The project has encouraged communities to collectively commemorate loved ones who lost their lives, reflect on the difficult times, and remember their positive experiences. It has been a space to celebrate the ways communities were brought together during this time and heal as a nation.
The public are invited to donate to Dundee’s Memorial in commemoration of their loved ones or to memorialise their own experiences of the Covid pandemic. Donors can choose to select one of three tiered rewards or donate smaller amounts of money.
By donating £20, donors will receive a packet of wildflower seeds for planting in their own garden or community. By donating £50, donors will receive a packet of wildflower seeds and a Corten steel bird decoration to display in their own home or garden. Finally, by selecting the top tier of a £100 donation, these donors will receive both rewards and will be allocated a bird on the garden’s central artwork.
The garden’s central artwork will include a sculptural display of birds in flight mirroring the natural waves, curves and shapes in the planting. Birds often have connotations of the changing of seasons, freedom of movement and new beginnings, reminding us of our loved ones. They were selected as the artworks’ motifs by local communities in collaboration with designers, Old School Fabrications.
The memorial’s materials of Corten steel and timber, as well as perennial planting have been considered with longevity, low maintenance and sustainability in mind. The design has been well considered in regard to maintenance and designed to ensure that the space is safe and inviting to visit.
The Memorial design was developed from a series of conversations and workshops with local communities, delivered by design studio Around Zero. The workshops were held across Dundee and invited people to reflect on their Covid experiences and to define what a pandemic related memorial would look like for them. The final design created by design studio Old School Fabrications reflects the emotional twists and turns of Covid but also encourages people to take time out of their day to enjoy fresh air and connect with nature.
QUOTES:
Annie Marrs, Lead Officer, UNESCO City of Design Dundee said:
Kirsten Wallace, Project Coordinator, UNESCO City of Design Dundee said:
“We have launched this Crowdfunder to help realise the community’s full ambition behind this co-designed Covid Memorial for Dundee. This fundraiser provides an opportunity for those who were not previously involved in the Memorial’s co-design phase to now be a part of its creation.
“Those who generously donate £100 and above, will be allocated their own memorialised bird shape within the Garden’s central artwork, as well as receiving their own Corten steel bird ornament and a packet of wildflower seeds.”
Lucy Binnie, CLD Youth Worker and project participant, said:
“It is exciting to see our original ideas for Dundee’s Covid Community Memorial come to life. We designed the Memorial to include a labyrinth that people can walk through and take a moment to reflect.
“We’re really pleased with the Memorial’s location at Moncur Crescent, as it was important for our design to be located close to a playpark for children and young people, who were impacted by isolation during the Covid pandemic.”
Estelle Coulthard, former Family Support Coordinator, Home-Start Dundee and project participant said:
“I lost my grandfather to Covid and never had the opportunity to say goodbye. The Memorial Garden will give me a place to sit and share my memories with others and allow our younger generation to have a fun place to find out how Covid affected our lives.”
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
Leisure & Culture Dundee
Leisure & Culture Dundee is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) dedicated to enriching lives by delivering high-quality leisure, sport, cultural, and library services across Dundee. Established to serve the people of Dundee and its visitors, they operate a diverse portfolio of venues and programmes that inspire participation, promote wellbeing, and celebrate the city’s rich cultural heritage.
They are proud to be at the heart of Dundee’s community life, managing libraries, museums, galleries, sports centres, and performance venues that are accessible, inclusive, and welcoming to all. Their work supports health and well-being, lifelong learning, social inclusion and economic development.
For more information, visit https://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/
Remembering Together
A project that collectively reflected, remembered, offered hope and healed communities across Scotland. Remembering Together offered a space for communities to come together and process what Covid meant, and continues to mean, for Scotland as a nation. This project commissioned artists in all 32 local authority areas in Scotland to co-create with local communities to find ways of honouring the people who were affected by Covid and the ways they want to remember them.
UNESCO City of Design Dundee
Dundee is the UK’s first and only UNESCO City of Design. It was designated a UNESCO Creative City in 2014 acknowledging Dundee’s rich design heritage, its thriving contemporary design sector and strong cultural identity. As the UK’s first and only UNESCO City of Design, Dundee upholds the values of UNESCO and publicly champions the city’s commitment to placing design at the heart of local development plans and to global cooperation working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The programmes that UNESCO City of Design Dundee deliver celebrate and demonstrate the impact of design, embrace co-design, promote local talent, engage designers in decision making and collaborate with other UNESCO Creative Cities.
Currently there are 53 UNESCO Cities of Design, including Bangkok, Bilbao, Detroit, Graz, Helsinki, Kobe, Mexico City, Montreal, Singapore, Seoul and Wuhan.
UNESCO City of Design Dundee: https://cityofdesigndundee.com
@designdundee
