THE landscape around a factory in Darlington has been added to the National Heritage List for England.

Land around the Cummins Engine Factory is one of 20 national post-war gardens and landscapes that have today been added to the Register of Parks and Gardens, part of the National Heritage List for England.

The newly announced protections by Historic England are the result of a three-year collaboration with The Gardens Trust, where professionals and the public helped to identify landscapes designed between the end of the Second World War and the early 1990s for protection.

This includes sites from memorials to the grounds of housing estates, institutions, and private houses as well as commercial and industrial sites, and associated structures.

The newly protected landscape at Darlington’s Cummins Engine Factory was designed between 1964 and 1966 by Dan Kiley, who is considered to be the father of modern landscape architecture in the United States.

Listed at Grade II*, the Cummins Engine Factory by Roche & Dinkeloo is one of Britain’s great post-war buildings, Historic England says.

Mr Kiley worked closely with architect Kevin Roche to create a deceptively simple landscape of grass, with a rectangular reservoir at the front of the imposing factory building.

The design strips back the three principle elements of landscape design – trees, water and grass – to a minimalist and pure form to complement the main building.

The reservoir is kerbed by the same blue brindle bricks used in the factory building and acts as a reflecting pond. The site is bounded by original Cor-ten fencing, (listed at Grade II*), of the same red coloured oxidising steel as the building.

Charles Smith, acting regional director for Historic England in the North-East and Yorkshire, said: “These past few months have taught us that our green open spaces improve the quality of the environment around us, are good for our wellbeing and give us breathing space.

“This project shines a light on some amazing landscapes – like the one around Cummins Engine Factory - that exist all over the country, celebrating how they enhance our lives, and helping to protect them for generations to come.”

Other protected sites include Campbell Park, which connects the grid-planned new town of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire with the wide pastoral landscape beyond and the 14 interconnected spaces that make up York Gate Garden in Leeds, Yorkshire.