The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has appointed BAM Construction’s North West team to design and construct their new Welcome Building and lake at RHS Garden Bridgewater on the site of the former Worsley New Hall.
BAM is the Salford-based company behind the construction of over a quarter a billion of current new buildings across the region including universities, offices, schools and leisure centres.

The multi-million pound project involves the construction of a new Welcome Building comprising of an arrivals hall, learning facilities, café, plant centre and gift shop, together with associated hard and soft landscaping and a new 4,750 sqm lake.

The scheme forms part of the RHS plan to create a 62 hectare garden in Worsley, Salford, which is currently the largest gardening project in Europe and the Society's first new garden in 17 years. It is anticipated that it will attract up to 700,000 visitors per year by its 10th year of opening.


“The Welcome Building has high quality finishes throughout from the exposed concrete columns, concrete floor finish and glulam timber roof structure to the elevations of curtain walling and larch cladding.

“We are now ensuring the design is ready for procurement and construction activity. Construction work is expected to start in January.

“I’m delighted the RHS has trusted us with this special scheme.  One of BAM’s great credentials is an adaptable and genuinely collaborative approach. We are good at getting inside a scheme and a client’s mind set, and we are looking forward to a very productive partnership as RHS Garden Bridgewater starts to become a reality.”


Ian Fleming

BAM Regional Director, North West

The RHS had appointed architect Hodder & Partners to design the development who will now be novated to the construction partnership. Planning permission was granted in June 2017 and the RHS anticipates opening in 2020.

John Pye, Capital Projects Manager for RHS Garden Bridgewater, said:

“The appointment of BAM Construction to design and build our new Welcome Centre and lake is an important step in RHS Garden Bridgewater becoming the world-class destination for horticulture in the North West that we envisage. The Welcome Building and lake in the entrance garden will be the first impressions that visitors receive of the new garden, and with BAM’s track record of delivering outstanding buildings throughout the UK we are confident we have chosen the ideal local partner to realise our vision. We are looking forward to working with the team as the project progresses.”

Cost consultancy and project management is being provided by Arcadis while the civil and structural services are provided by ROC and building services engineering is by Hoare Lea.

The Masterplan for RHS Garden Bridgewater has been created by world-renowned landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, and includes the restoration of the 11-acre Walled Garden, one of the largest of its kind in the UK, and a new perennial meadow entrance garden laid out like a web and incorporating the new lake, which will be connected to the original, historic lake by a water garden of interlocking streams and cascades.