East End park gets Olympic makeover

Contractor Osborne has completed construction of a Victorian-style Chinese pagoda in the East End of London, as part of a £12m regeneration of Tower Hamlets’ Victoria Park ahead of the Olympic Games.

The open-sided building is a replica of one which stood in the park from 1847 to the 1950s.

It was first built in Hyde Park as the entrance for a Chinese exhibition which ran from 1841 to 1843. It was sold to Victoria Park for £11.

Osborne sub-contracted construction of the pagoda to structural carpentry specialist Frametech and joinery specialist Bartram Timber.

The improvements were part-funded by Tower Halmlets council and the National Lottery.

Bartram Timber sales director Kevin Jackson said: “Bartram Timber is the natural choice for a project of this size and complexity as we are well used to producing timber solutions to highly specialised designs.

“Our expertise in converting the structural engineer’s plans to workshop fabrication drawings was essential in creating the massive glulam beams for the roof, which were shaped to form the traditional sweeping curve of the Chinese roof design. We then hand-made the infill to complete the roof structure.”

He added: “The second part of the pagoda project was to lasercut the decorative fret work for the walls of the structure from birch plywood.

“All the timber for this project has been fire-treated and we hope the beauty of the finished structure and its peaceful location will discourage other sorts of vandalism.”

Photos courtesy of Bartram Timber.