Di memorial takes shape

The long-awaited Princess Diana memorial fountain is finally taking shape seven months after the foundation stone was laid.

Work on the project, a "moat without a castle" designed by American architect Kathryn Gustafson, started last June; the foundation stone was laid by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell in August.

Photographs of the site in Hyde Park show the design emerging from the mud next to the Serpentine. The outline of the moat, still covered in green tarpaulin, is visible against the earth.

The £3 million water feature and surrounding gardens are due to be completed this summer, when there will be a public opening ceremony.

More than six years after the death of the Princess of Wales in August 1997, the project is moving towards completion.

The scheme has been beset by controversy almost since it was proposed.

First the plans were hit by rows over cost and design, then squabbling among memorial committee members prevented any decisions being taken for months until the Government stepped in.

Even when Gustafson was chosen it led to further controversy as she was selected over English sculptor Anish Kapoor, while some said her moat was not strictly a fountain.

The design also came under fire from Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd, who criticised it for a "lack of grandeur".

Finally, evidence that a Roman settlement lay on the site forced architects Gustafson Porter to relocate the moat 80 metres east of its original position. There had been plans to unveil the memorial in time for the sixth anniversary of Diana's death in 2003, but that target had to be moved back a year.

Measuring 50 metres by 81 metres, the moat is made of stone and will follow the contours of the park. It will be shallow enough for children to paddle in and will be illuminated at night.

In one area water will flow down a gentle slope but elsewhere a stream will cascade and tumble before both paths flow into a tranquil pool. A Royal Parks spokesman said the project-was "on programme" to be completed in time for a July opening.

"The 550 stones have all been cut from a quarry in Cornwall and been cut into shape in Northern Ireland," the spokesman said.

"It is a case now of preparing the landscape and letting the plants and grass establish themselves."

Stonemasons will put the final touches to the granite stones before the piles of topsoil are removed. Then it will take six or seven weeks for the seedlings and plants to establish themselves before July.