The Garden Bridge Trust has announced that the construction contract with the joint venture of Bouygues Travaux Public and Cimolai SpA has been signed, a vital step in turning the plans for the Garden Bridge into reality.

The joint venture will be responsible for completing the detailed design, construction and planting of this new public space for central London.

Bouygues TP and Cimolai have been working with the Trust since April 2015 when they were appointed for preconstruction services, following a formal competitive procurement process. Since then they have been working on finalising the technical proposals for the delivery of the project.

This period of joint working has enabled the team to develop strong working relationships and to fine tune and improve plans after local consultation.

Examples include making a 35% reduction in the number of road journeys by better use of the river for deliveries, completing the construction of the bridge in 32 months, keeping Bernie Spain Gardens open and maintaining the width of Queen’s Walk pathway to 7.6m during construction.

In addition, a further five planning conditions were approved at a meeting of Lambeth’s Planning Committee last week relating to noise and vibration mitigation and the layout of the South Landing Building. 80% of Lambeth’s pre-commencement planning conditions have now been approved.

Others relating to the commencement of particular construction works also need to be discharged and the Trust already has approval for two out of seven of these. Lease negotiations are continuing about the land required for the South Landing.

Construction work on the Bridge is planned to commence in the summer of 2016 and to be completed in late 2018.

Lord Mervyn Davies, Chairman of the Garden Bridge Trust, said: “The Garden Bridge is a reality. We are on course with our fundraising targets, we are meeting the requirements of our planning conditions. We have huge public support for the project and we look forward to working with Bouygues TP and Cimolai and all our partners to make this a special place to be enjoyed by Londoners and visitors in the heart of the city for years to come.”

Bouygues TP and Cimolai are supported by Flint and Neil and Moxon Architects as designers. Arup, Heatherwick Studio and Dan Pearson Studios will continue to provide advice to the Trust about the Bridge design and construction.

To mark the signing of the construction contract the Trust has released a new film which is a celebration of everything that makes London the unique place it is and the people who will cross the bridge every day, from every walk of life.

Shot over four days in each corner of the city, it is a journey through every side of this ever-changing and thriving community. Watch the film.