An exciting project to create a new public entrance at the Botanic Garden is nearing completion as the magnificent new Brookside Gate was yesterday craned into position.

The new Brookside Gate under construction at the corner of Bateman Street and Trumpington Road will become the principal public entrance to the Botanic Garden when it opens to visitors in late October.

The entranceway has been designed by local architects, Saunders Boston, to open up a quiet corner of the Garden to provide a higher profile public entrance with new pathway to link into the historic garden.

The circular glazed ticket kiosk and highly-decorative Brookside Gate have been designed to reflect existing elements within the garden but blended with contemporary materials to produce a design which focuses on respecting its historic setting whilst opening up views and access into Garden from Trumpington Road.

Professor John Parker, Director of the Botanic Garden, said
“This delightful new entrance, set within an encircling belt of superb trees, will give an open-arms welcome to everyone and encourage even more people to explore the treasures of the Botanic Garden within.”

Saunders Boston have employed local knowledge and skills wherever possible. The new Brookside Gate has been made by Cambridge firm Mackay Engineering in their Cherry Hinton workshop. It is highly decorative and designed to compliment the fine 1762 Gates that were the former entrance to the old Botanic Garden off Downing Street and which were moved to head the Garden’s Main Walk in 1909.

The stainless steel frame for the new ticket office was made by a local firm, Rowley Engineering. The roof construction was erected offsite in the workshop early in the production process so that templates for the specialist glass panels could be prepared, thus avoiding a delay in the supply chain.

The kiosk itself is clad in thermawood, a timber with improved stability due to the chemical changes that occur during the heating and drying process. The roof of the kiosk is a combination of glass and turn-coated stainless steel panels fixed by a Cambridge firm, T.R.Freeman, whilst the ticket counter, formed from Kashmir White granite, is being made by another Cambridge institution, Ivett & Reed.

An unusual feature of the kiosk is the sliding, curved glass panels of the ticket counter: the glazing allows uninterrupted views through to the Garden.
Colin Holmes, lead architect from Saunders Boston, says of the project:

“Whilst the new Gate itself is a stunning feature of the new entrance, for the first time in the history of the Botanic Garden visitors will also be able to fully appreciate the quality of the Grade II Listed building of 1 Brookside, now the Garden’s administrative offices, in something approaching its original setting. “

Saunders Boston is a Cambridge based firm of chartered architects, which has enjoyed a long association with the University of Cambridge. Previous significant Cambridge projects include the Fisher Building at St John's College, the Mong Building at Sidney Sussex College, several buildings for the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine and a number of Medical Research Laboratories for the School of Clinical Medicine and other University Research Institutes.

The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is open daily from 10am, closing at 6pm in the summer months. Admission is £4.00 (£3.50 concession) and accompanied children under 16 are admitted free of charge. For further visitor information please call 01223 336265 or visit the link above right

The new Brookside Gate is scheduled to open 20 October 2008.
 

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