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Accsys, manufacturer of Accoya, one of the world’s most high-performance and sustainable wood products, is showcasing Accoya on the deck of the iconic Bow Bridge in Central Park.
After more than 160 years of enduring weather extremes, heavy foot traffic, and countless film productions, the bridge showed clear signs of wear. While it underwent a comprehensive restoration in 2015, by 2024, the Southern Yellow Pine decking required replacement. For this essential upgrade, Accoya emerged as the optimal solution—its exceptional dimensional stability ensures the wood retains its shape and structural integrity without warping, cupping, or swelling, even under New York’s intense seasonal fluctuations. In addition to its superior performance, Accoya’s sourcing from sustainably managed forests and its minimal environmental impact made it a natural fit for the Central Park Conservancy and New York City Parks, aligning with their long-standing commitment to ecological stewardship.
The restoration of the Bow Bridge deck has revitalized this historic gem. Using Accoya, the bridge exemplifies how timeless design and modern innovation can coexist in perfect harmony.
“It’s a privilege to contribute to the preservation of such a cherished New York City landmark,” said Sergio Munhoz, sales director for Accsys North America. “Bow Bridge required a material that could offer long-term reliability while respecting its historic character. Accoya’s superior durability, dimensional stability, and sustainability credentials made it the right choice to help ensure this iconic structure continues to be enjoyed for generations to come.”
New York City’s Central Park is renowned as one of the world’s most famous urban landscapes,and few spots capture its beauty and charm quite like Central Park's Bow Bridge. Spanning 87 ft. across The Lake—one of the park's most picturesque bodies of water, linking the Ramble on the east to Cherry Hill on the west—the bridge was first constructed in 1860. With its graceful cast-iron curves, intricate detailing, and sweeping skyline views, the Bow Bridge is an architectural marvel of its time and one of the most photographed and iconic pedestrian bridges in the world.
In addition to the Bow Bridge, Accoya was used to restore the Gothic Bridge, also in Central Park and near the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir Running Path.
Accoya provides unmatched reliability in wood. It is produced and tested to prevent visible swelling, shrinking, or distortion, making it perfect for windows, doors, decking, and siding. Accoya offers an unrivaled 50-year above-ground and 25-year in-ground and freshwater warranty.
About Accsys
Accsys Technologies PLC is a fast-growing business with a purpose: changing wood to change the world. The company combines chemistry, technology, and ingenuity to make high-performance wood products that are extremely durable and stable, opening new opportunities for the built environment and giving the world a choice to build sustainably. Accsys transforms fast-growing, certified sustainable wood into building materials with characteristics that match or better those of man-made, intensely resource-depleting, and heavily carbon-polluting alternatives. More information about Accsys can be found at www.accsysplc.com.
About Accoya USA
Accoya USA, LLC is a joint venture between Accsys (60%) and Eastman Chemical Company (40%), taking advantage and benefiting from synergies between the two businesses’ respective strengths. Accsys is the only producer of acetylated wood in the world, with proprietary technology, processes and decades of know-how and proven success in the manufacturing, marketing, and sales of the sustainable, ultra-high-performance building material. Sustainably grown wood from FSC certified sources is one key raw material for Accoya production, and acetic anhydride is the other.
Accoya wood is a sustainable, durable, and stable solid wood product with exceptional performance, finish, and sustainability. Accsys’ proprietary acetylation process makes the wood more dimensionally stable, and because it is no longer easily digestible, it is extremely durable. Produced from certified (e.g. FSC) sustainable sources, Accoya wood has many environmental credentials and ecolabels and is one of very few building materials to be Cradle to Cradle Certified at the Gold level, with a Platinum rating for Material Health, confirming that no harmful or toxic additives or chemicals are present to leach out into the environment.
With an up to 50-year warranty and potential 70+ year service life, the combination of sustainability, dimensional stability, durability, and retained strength means that Accoya wood offers a wealth of new opportunities to architects, designers, specifiers, manufacturers, and homeowners. These benefits result in lower maintenance and total cost of ownership while also offering significant sustainability benefits.
Accoya and the Trimarque Device are registered trademarks owned by Titan Wood Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accsys Technologies PLC, and may not be used or reproduced without written permission.
