Colourful tribute unveiled to celebrate the reopening of rooftop garden at Telford shopping centre

The Retreat rooftop garden at the Telford Centre has been specifically designed in close partnership with Telford Autism Hub.

It provides a quiet space with a wide range of scents, textures and colours that give a wonderful sensory experience.

Closed during the pandemic, the garden is now back open so visitors can enjoy this quiet and relaxing space.

Visitors to the garden can also enjoy the bright and wonderful colours of The Thousand Heart project, a rainbow mural which will become a permanent feature.

One thousand colourful hearts form a beautiful rainbow mural, with some of these hearts carrying personalised messages of remembrance of those lost during the pandemic and of gratitude to all those that have given and done so much to help others.

Katie Broome, marketing manager at Telford Centre, said: “We’d like to give huge thanks to the Telford community for pulling together this past year.

"It’s wonderful to see visitors returning to the centre and we are very pleased to be able to reopen The Retreat for everyone to enjoy.

"We’d also like to thank ABM UK, who sponsored The Thousand Heart project and helped to bring this wonderful piece of art to The Retreat.

"We hope to welcome more visitors to come and enjoy the space and take time to reflect."

Located on the third floor of yellow beech car park, by House of Fraser, The Retreat is open daily.

Speaking about the project earlier this year, Lee Cartmer, divisional director at ABM UK, said: “This is a completely unique and incredibly personal piece of art – capturing the names of those who have been lost in the local area during the pandemic.

“It captures a moment in time for this community and provides a platform to share gratitude, condolences and messages of hope.

“We are delighted to sponsor this initiative which we believe provides an opportunity to unify the extended team and community as we start to see the end of this crisis.”

For more information about the rooftop garden visit telfordcentre.com/visit/the-retreat