Kew Gardens

Landscaping around restaurant at Kew
Graham Construction
£800,000
London
Aug 2018
Jun 2019

Our teams upgraded paths and roadways at Kew. They also played a major part in the new Pavilion restaurant.

Client Graham Construction has retained VGC to create a number of projects at Kew Gardens.

Working on the foundations of the Pavilion restaurant
VGC team working on the foundations of the Pavilion restaurant

Pavilion restaurant

Concrete foundations

As enabling works for the new restaurant build, we excavated and installed two reinforced concrete foundations.

The project included

  • bulk earthworks
  • drainage (surface and foul water)
  • ducting for power and communications cables
  • cable installations.

We also demolished and backfilled a 4 metre deep basement area, and installed a 55m3 soakaway using an appropriately designed temporary works system.

Chinese garden landscaping
Catalin and Razvan working on the new Chinese garden

The team overcame considerable logistical challenges to deliver up to 220m3 of concrete to each of the foundations. Deliveries were scheduled to avoid school holidays, when the gardens are particularly busy.

Groundworks and landscaping

Our landscaping works around the new Pavilion restaurant included a raised wooden walkway and a new all-weather area.

In addition, our team laid a Chinese stone garden. The designer of the garden thanked our team for their ‘impressive standards’.

Paths and roadways

The team installed a new entry road at Oxenhouse Lane (near the Lion Gate).

raised wooden walkway at Kew
The raised wooden walkway near the restaurant

They have also upgraded all-weather paths through the gardens near the children’s play area.  We used resin-bound surfacing around the restaurant (see photograph top) as well as for the upgraded paths. By laying the surface over black cellweb packed with ballast, we created a surface suitable for wheelchair users and pushchairs, while allowing water to drain through.

Site of special scientific interest (SSSI)

Kew Gardens is a site of special scientific interest. Work was carried out in as small an area as possible, to minimise impact on this historic area. Every team member was fully aware of the need for care. We fenced off all working areas to protect members of the public, and ensured that trees were not damaged by any of the works.

The team took particular care of nearby plants, including 95-year-old vines and trees more than 100 years old.

This was one of a number of projects VGC was involved in for Graham Construction. See also the Wakehurst Gardens glasshouse project.