De Boer’s Chelsea pavilion begins to blossom

De Boer Structures has begun work on creating the spectacular centrepiece of this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. 

Great Pavillion
The company’s ‘Great Pavilion’ – offering total floor space of nearly 12,000 square metres – will become home to more than 100 floral exhibits when the world-famous horticultural gathering takes place between May 20 and 24. 

Spectacular show
This year’s show will see a host of new attractions on display inside the pavilion, including exhibits as diverse as bonsais, palm trees, tropical orchids and drought-tolerant plants. Visitors can even get up close and personal with the very latest exhibits of carnivorous plants! 

A-Frame
Brackley-based De Boer’s contract with the show’s organiser, the Royal Horticultural Society, involves the creation of the ‘Great Pavilion’ by linking two huge, modular Delta System structures via a specially adapted A-frame structure. 

Bespoke structure
The modifications enable the company to provide its client with a single, open exhibition space equivalent in size to two football pitches. 

Chalet structures
Elsewhere on the show site – created in the grounds of Chelsea’s historic Royal Hospital – De Boer will provide organisers with a number of Chalet structures for use as merchandising areas. 

Central exhibition area
De Boer Project Manager Liz Routh said: “The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is famous across the globe, with a richly deserved reputation for attracting the biggest names and very best exhibits from the horticultural world. De Boer is looking forward to playing its part again this year, helping to create the show’s spectacular central exhibition area.” 

Innovative structures
In recent years De Boer has introduced a number of innovations for the Royal Horticultural Society. The company’s highly adaptable Delta System structures made their Chelsea debut in 2000 to replace the show’s traditional canvas-style exhibition space. Separate ‘East’ and ‘West’ pavilions operated for four years before De Boer created a single, huge exhibition space for the first time in 2004 thanks to the introduction of its specially adapted A-frame structure to link the two Deltas. 

Computerised hydraulic lifiting system
Since then, other breakthroughs have included the introduction of a fully computerised hydraulic lifting system, which allows the structures’ panels to be lifted into place without the use of cranes. The self-lifting system offers a broad range of benefits including reduced noise and traffic congestion. 

Innovative solutions
As part of the lifting process for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, concrete foundations are placed at regular intervals around the site, with the foundations then being used to accommodate the legs of lifting jacks that allow sections of the structures to be raised into place. 

Delta System and A-frame structure
The very latest ‘Great Pavilion’ was introduced two years ago, with De Boer providing the RHS with brand-new Delta System and A-frame structures based on the previous winning designs.