Tintagel Castle Footbridge 'most beautiful new building in Britain'
It's been called 'a functional and aesthetic triumph'
The new footbridge at Tintagel Castle's been named the UK's most beautiful new building.
It won the award at The Royal Fine Art Commission Trust Building Beauty Awards 2022 - judged by a panel of experts.
The awards celebrate the best of beautiful new architecture – the buildings, engineering structures and urban landscaping schemes that add beauty to Britain’s environment.
It also took home the best Engineering Award at the ceremony in London.
Commissioned by English Heritage, the bridge – designed by Ney & Partners engineers and architects William Matthews Associates – reunites for the first time in more than 500 years, the two halves of Tintagel Castle.
"This will become an attraction in its own right"
Stephen Bayley – architectural critic and chair of the judging panel – commented: “This was a challenging assignment, given the terrain and the sensitivity of the site as both an ancient monument and a place of natural beauty. How best to complement the dramatic context?
"The answer is not timidity but the kind of boldness that suits the rough and raw Atlantic coast of Cornwall.
"The designers, necessarily, have understood every inch of their canvas and from an intellectual response to the engineering requirements have generated something graceful, perfectly poised, restrained: nothing here is unnecessary but what is necessary has been finessed to the point of beauty.
“The result is a functional and aesthetic triumph, a striking footpath to a spectacle that is a spectacle in itself. It is perfectly possible to imagine that, as with other fine bridges, this will become much more than a means of spanning a void and become an attraction in its own right.”
Kate Mavor, English Heritage’s Chief Executive, said: “English Heritage’s purpose is to care for great historic sites like Tintagel Castle and to inspire people to visit them. Our bridge does both. Quite simply, this wonderful crossing encapsulates our ambitions as a charity to bring history to life in imaginative ways.
“We are delighted that the judges recognised the brilliant work by Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates. We’d also like to thank The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust for their generous donation, without which we could not have reunited Tintagel Castle.”
As the overall winner at the Building Beauty Awards, the footbridge now becomes the UK entry for the International Building Beauty Prize awarded at the World Architecture Festival in Lisbon on 2 December.