Sackler Crossing

The elegant Sackler Crossing spans one of the lakes in London’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and was created as part of a new route that leads visitors through a previously under-used area of the gardens.

The S-shaped bridge consists of a deck made of 564 black granite sleepers lined by around 1,000 bronze posts which form the balustrades. Each of the finely engineered posts has a rounded, smooth top for pedestrians to hold onto. The bridge’s route across the water was carefully chosen to avoid damage to tree roots and minimise other environmental impacts on the gardens. The deck is intentionally very close to the waterline so that the whole structure appears to float just above the lake.

To ensure the highest quality finish, Buro Happold’s engineers were involved throughout the design and build process, which included the production of a full-scale mock-up of a section of the bridge.

The Sackler Crossing won a Regional and National RIBA award in 2008.