Honouring Her Majesty’s legacy at Nine Elms

Sean Mulryan, Ballymore’s Chairman and Chief Executive, and Stephen Bayley Hon FRIBA, Chairman of The Royal Fine Art Commission Trust, planted the first of nine elm trees in the Nine Elms Park at Embassy Gardens, as part of ‘The Queen’s Green Canopy’ and in memory of the late Sovereign, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  

Sean Mulryan recently joined the Advisory Board of The Royal Fine Art Commission Trust, a charity that promotes high-quality design in the built environment.  The Royal Fine Art Commission Trust was set up as a charity in 1987 as a complement to the Royal Fine Art Commission, the government’s independent adviser on matters affecting public amenity and aesthetics in England. Over the past 30 years, the Trust has sought to promote visual awareness and public appreciation of high-quality design, for example through educational initiatives and their upcoming Building Beauty Awards (of which Ballymore is proud to be a sponsor).

Stephen Bayley, Chairman of The Trust, is a British author, critic, columnist, consultant, broadcaster, debater and curator... since the 1980’s he has been referred to as the ‘design guru’.

He was the founding Director of ‘The Boilerhouse Project’ – Britain’s first permanent exhibition of design, at the V&A, which evolved into the unique Design Museum in London, with Stephen Bayley as its Chief Executive, and which was opened by Margaret Thatcher in 1989. 

‘The Queen's Green Canopy’ initiative began in May 2021 in honour of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, to increase and protect the UK’s native tree cover, encouraging people to create a 'special gift' for the Queen, to mark her 70 years on the throne.