Royal Academy of Arts - Weston Bridge
Royal Academy of Arts - Weston Bridge
Since 1867, The Royal Academy of Arts has resided in Burlington House, a Grade II* listed building on Picadilly, London. In 2001, the RA acquired the Grade II* listed building to the north of Burlington house, called 6 Burlington Gardens.
We were the lead structural engineers for the RA250 Masterplan project, which involved David Chipperfield Architects’ scheme to unite the Royal Academy’s two buildings on Piccadilly and Burlington Gardens, and to refurbish 6 Burlington Gardens. Completed in 2018 to coincide with the RA’s 250th anniversary, the scheme set out firstly to link the two buildings together as a single complex.
This was principally achieved with the construction of a new, exposed reinforced concrete bridge and the opening up of previously back of house areas in the basement of Burlington House. We worked closely with David Chipperfield Architects to realise their ambition for a cast in-situ, high quality, fair-faced concrete finish on both internal and external faces. The result is a sculptural object that is sensitively integrated into the surrounding Grade II* listed fabric.
The Weston Bridge now forms a new public link between Burlington House and 6 Burlington Gardens, to unite, for the first time, the Royal Academy’s two sites.
The £36m project involved £12.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and won an RIBA National Award, a RIBA London Conservation Award, and an AJ Retrofit Award in 2019.
Client: Royal Academy
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects