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The Welcome Building

Begin your Bridgewater journey at the award-winning Welcome Building – a striking 21st century addition to the garden

Interesting facts...

  • Design Elegant timber-framed ceilings and concrete uprights echo the structure of trees
  • Construction Designed by RIBA Stirling Prize-winning architects Hodder & Partners and built by BAM Construction, North West
  • Saving water Rainwater is collected from the building's green roof and used to flush toilets irrigate plants

Start and finish your journey

Sitting in the south-west corner of RHS Garden Bridgewater, the Welcome Building houses a striking arrivals hall, shop, café and two dedicated classrooms, as well as offering spectacular views over Moon Bridge Water – a beautiful, new 1.4-acre lake – and its lush native planting.

The contemporary building sits low in the landscape. Designed by RIBA Stirling Prize-winning architects Hodder & Partners and built by BAM Construction, Northwest to complement the Weston Walled Garden, it is clad in warm larch and flooded with light. The whole edifice offers a bright and airy welcome for visitors.

“The inspiration for the Welcome Building comes in part from the raised Bridgewater Canal which runs along the southern edge of the site; it creates a very strong horizon, which we echo in a building design that is low, long and linear.”

Stephen Hodder, architect, Hodder & Partners
Planting in the arrivals landscape provides interest all year

A welcoming landscape

At RHS Garden Bridgewater you are greeted by a gently undulating landscape of curving borders planted for year-round interest. Long timber benches offer welcoming seating from which to enjoy seasonal highlights including birch groves, cornus, camassias, geraniums, achillea, Deschampsia (tufted-hair grass) and Sanguisorba (burnet).

Bridgewater's green ethos

The Welcome Building has been created with ‘a green ethos’ in mind. Ecology and efficiency combine in many features including a green roof of wildflowers and sedum, which helps to insulate the building and reduce its carbon footprint. Gravel channels allow rainwater to be collected for recycling both within the building and outside in the wider garden.

Extending seamlessly from the building’s Meadow View Terrace, the new 1.4-acre lake, Moon Bridge Water, is a beautiful and tranquil ecological asset to RHS Garden Bridgewater. You can enjoy relaxed outdoor dining and drinks from Bridgewater Café on the lakeside terrace, and views of meandering Victoria Meadow beyond.
Schoolchildren can learn about plants, gardening and science

A hub for learning

Within the Welcome Building, the purpose-built Learning Studio includes two specially designed spaces that will welcome up to 7,000 schoolchildren a year from the region, as well as support community learning events, workshops and courses for adults.

“Learners will find out why horticulture matters to the world, how they can support the environment, how gardening can help them to be happy and healthy, and the great range of careers within the horticultural industry.”

Suzanne Moss, RHS Head of Education and Learning

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.