Arts and business leaders back £175m Garden Bridge

 
Grand design: architect Thomas Heatherwick (Picture: Dave Benett)
Miranda Bryant26 March 2015

Arts, business and horticultural leaders today threw their weight behind London’s proposed Garden Bridge as the tender for the £175 million project got under way.

Representatives from Kew Gardens and the Courtauld Institute have given their support to the structure linking Temple and South Bank.

Tender for the procurement, planting and maintenance of the 6,000 square metre footbridge has now started. The bridge will include 2,500 square metres of plants to showcase British design, engineering and landscape talent.

The Garden Bridge Trust, the charity behind the project, said the bridge — designed by Thomas Heatherwick, who devised the cauldron for the 2012 Olympics — will create jobs and support business.

Paul Morrell, the trust’s deputy chairman, said: “It’s great that so many major institutions and future neighbours recognise and support the benefits the Garden Bridge will bring.”

Ruth Duston, chief executive of the Northbank business improvement district, said: “The Garden Bridge will be transformational in how people move around this area.

“The new crossing will be a landmark in London, connecting two of the capital’s historical and cultural hubs — the Northbank and South Bank.”

Professor Deborah Swallow, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, said the bridge would boost local business “by attracting many more visitors to this area and putting the Courtauld, Somerset House and the Northbank firmly on the map as one of the must-visit locations in London”.

Marcus Agius, chairman of the trustees of Kew Gardens, added: “The Garden Bridge is a brilliant way to capture London’s 21st-century zeitgeist. It will also provide a compelling opportunity to connect residents and visitors of all ages with the crucial importance of plants

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