Photo by: Garden Bridge Trust
The most detailed plans yet of London’s under-fire Garden Bridge, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, have been revealed.
Some 270 trees, 2,000 shrubs, and more than 22,000 perennials, ferns and grasses will cover 2,500 sq m of the £175 million bridge connecting South Bank to Temple.
Dan Pearson, the project’s landscape designer, says: ‘Whatever the season, the planting will provide year-round colour and interest.’
Pearson’s design also divides the bridge’s green space into five areas, each representing a different aspect of London. The ‘North Bank’ section, for example, will mimic the nearby Temple Garden with strongly scented flowering shrubs.
The Garden Bridge Trust, the charity behind the initative, has gone ahead with its proposal despite a High Court judge last month ordering a judicial review. A court will hear the case next month to question Lambeth Council’s decision to grant planning permission to the project.
Should the judicial review find no wrongdoing, construction of the bridge will begin in 2016. It is scheduled to open in 2018.
