one of the major problems at tintagel castle is this incredibly rocky landscape. because there were so many steps up to the island and a lot of people couldn't because they had bad knees, use wheelchairs, whatever it was. now we have essentially step—free access all the way from the car park of the site, and it was so satisfying on the opening day to see literally a queue of wheelchair users from the local village queue up to be the first person to cross the bridge and beyond the island, something that they may not have done for many, many years. in my mind this was a textbook example of how you should design a major piece of engineering in a really sensitive heritage or archaeological site. you could look at all sorts of designs for bridges that would actually have to go through the archaeology on the surface of the island. the elegance of this solution is that it is anchored into the rock on either side below the archaeology, so very, very clever. the materials that were used were not just structural but also tied into the landscape and situation. for the bridge

laurent ney and matthieu mallie, from ney & partners, we are the engineers and the designers of the tintagel castleo sides of the medieval castle, built in the 12th century by richard, earl of cornwall. the mainland ward and the island ward were connected by an isthmus of rock which, in a sense, eroded away, and the bridge recreates that link between the two sides. one of the key drivers behind the project — indeed, its very raison d'etre — was to improve accessibility to the site. one of the major problems that tintagel has is this incredibly rocky landscape. we wanted to be able to get lots of people here who couldn't get here before. because there were so many steps up to the island, a lot of people couldn't because they had bad knees, they used wheelchairs, whatever it was. now we have essentially step—free access right from the car park all the way through onto the site. and it was so satisfying on the opening day to see literally a queue of wheelchair users from the local village queue up to be the first person to cross the bridge and onto the island. something that they might not have done f

laurent ney and matthieu mallie from ney & partners, we were the engineers and the designers of the tintagel castlee built in the 12th century by richard, earl of cornwall. the mainland ward and the island ward were connected by an isthmus of rock which has since eroded away and the bridge recreates that link between the two sides. one of the key drivers behind the project — indeed, it's very raison d'etre — was to improve accessibility to the site. one of the major problems at tintagel is this incredibly rocky landscape. we wanted to be able to get lots of people here who couldn't get here before. because there were so many steps up to the island, a lot of people couldn't because they had bad knees, they use wheelchairs — whatever it was. now we have essentially step—free access right from the car park all the way through onto the site, and it was so satisfying on the opening day to see literally a queue of wheelchair users from the local village queue up to be the first person to cross the bridge and onto the island — something that they might not have done for many, many years. in my mind, this

laurent ney and matthieu mallie, from ney & partners, we are the engineers and the designers of the tintagel castle park all the way through onto the site. and it was so satisfying on the opening day to see literally a queue of wheelchair users from the local village queue up to be the first person to cross the bridge and onto the island. something that they might not have done for many years. in my mind, this was a textbook example of how you should design a major piece of engineering, on a really sensitive heritage or archaeological site. you can look at all sorts of designs for bridges that would have to go through the archaeology on the surface of the island. the elegance of this solution was that it is anchored into the rock on either side, below the sensitive archaeology. very, very clever. the materials we used were important not just structurally, but also, how it would tie into its landscape, its situation. for the bridge deck, we've used slate which is mined from the quarryjust two miles away. 40,000 hand—split and hand—cut slates will have been laid. and it gives that wonderful sound as