Delancey obelisk will be a steel beacon of north

A 100ft-high monument planned for Delancey Park will be seen from as far away as Jersey, according to the project's architect.

Andrew Dyke, from CCD, has been working on plans to rebuild the Admiral de Saumarez obelisk, on behalf of the Admiral de Saumarez Trust, for more than two years.

He said they had looked at a number of ideas of what they wanted to do with the site, but decided to remain as close to the original monument as possible.

'We wanted it to reflect the dignity and memory of Admiral de Saumarez,' said Mr Dyke. 'But we also wanted to appeal to the people of the 21st century. We did consider moving it to St Peter Port, but we decided we wanted to use the original site.'

The new monument will be as high as the original, which was constructed in 1876. Mr Dyke said they never considered downsizing it.

But the original obelisk was constructed from high-quality Guernsey granite.

'The nearest place we could find enough quality granite was China, so we began to look at other materials,' said Mr Dyke. 'We did look at glass but, due to cost and practicality, it was abandoned. Then we looked at metal.'

The final design has a third step added onto the two original steps, and then a plinth. A galvanised steel framework will be secured into the granite bedrock, and which will then stretch into the sky. Duplex stainless steel will be used to clad the square obelisk.

• The monument will be 100ft high with a lightning conductor at the top. The plinth will be 3.4 metres wide, and the base of the metal obelisk will be 2.7 metres wide. The overall height will be 31.6 metres from the ground. With the height of Delancey Park, the top of the structure will be 138 metres above sea level. The holes for the constellations will be about 75mm in diameter, with smaller ones for lights to imitate the Milky Way.