Elephant Rock wins a series of prestigious awards

Published Friday, 25th November 2022

Celebrations are underway after Hartlepool’s Elephant Rock was crowned the national winner of the Value award at the Constructing Excellence Awards 2022.

Elephant Rock, the restored outdoor events space on Hartlepool’s Headland, was designed and developed by Hartlepool Borough Council’s own in-house teams with work being completed by local company Seymour Civil Engineering as principal contractor.

Reflecting on the award wins, Councillor Shane Moore, Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, said: ‘‘We are delighted that Elephant Rock has won a series prestigious awards and it is testament to the hard work of everyone involved in this project.

‘‘Elephant Rock is a fantastic asset for the people of Hartlepool and I am very much looking forward to it continuing to play a key role in our events programme moving forward.’’

Elephant Rock has been created by the restoration of a previous site which was built in the late 1800s to provide a place for civic, community and cultural events.

It incorporated a bandstand and also served as a viewing platform for the historic Elephant Rock which stood a short distance offshore. This was an elephant-shaped limestone rock formed by a combination of coastal erosion and quarrying. Much of it collapsed into the sea following a storm in 1891.

Hartlepool Borough Council’s Assistant Director of Place Management, Kieran Bostock, whose teams designed and project managed the scheme commented: ‘‘This has been a really enjoyable project to be involved with and these awards are testament to the work that both the Council as well as our principal contractor, Seymour Civil Engineering, have put into the project. The fact the project has now received five accolades over the past year is testament to the skill and experience of the project team.’’

Overcoming some strong competition for the national awards, Kieran continued: ‘‘The competition for these awards has been intense so it is fantastic for us to be crowned winners and receive such national recognition for a project delivered right here in Hartlepool.’’

Elephant Rock reopened earlier this year and has already hosted a number of events including the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in June.