Remit Consulting hosted the first of four virtual “ReTour” events on the 14th January, with panellists from Make Architects, CO-RE, the London Cycling Campaign, 22 Bishopsgate and SpokeSafe.
Before the pandemic, the ReTour events featured a peloton of property professionals cycling around central London to visit some of the most innovative examples of cycling and active travel facilities in office buildings around the West End, Midtown, the Square Mile and the City Fringe.
The first of the Covid-19 versions of ReTour proved to be far more relaxed with over 350 people attending the webinar from the comfort of their own Internet connection!
Annie Panteli, operations manager at 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London was the event’s first speaker who described how the 62-storey building’s ‘Bike Park’ has quickly evolved into the ‘Active Commuter Park’ (ACP) and a place that can support all active travellers who work within the City landmark building.
The ACP provides 1,700 bike spaces of different designs (many with e-charging points), 1,300 lockers, 75 showers and a facility to hire bikes for short journeys around the city.
Highlighting the need for improvements to infrastructure all around London, Annie explained that, as part of the building’s initiative to provide “Active Commuting as a service”, a survey of occupiers was undertaken early on in the process. While this confirmed the demand for secure storage within the building (which can be accessed by the 22 Bishopsgate App) the biggest concern of occupiers was their safety on crowded streets and pavements during their journeys to and from the workplace.
Max Wilson of SpokeSafe picked up on the need for improved cycling facilities around the capital and described how his company is looking to help property owners to improve facilities for cyclists and monetise underutilised spaces in buildings by providing secure bike parking spaces that are accessible via a mobile app.
He also confirmed that during the pandemic SpokeSafe had noted a higher demand for storage facilities suitable for e-bike charging to the extent that the next facility to be opened in central London would have 25% of the spaces dedicated to e-bikes. Max attributed this to a widening of the demographics of cyclists with an increased number of older people choosing to cycle.
“We’ve also got of demand from the logistics market, like Uber Eats and Deliveroo,” he said, outlining their specific needs in terms of space and the high frequency of use with many visits to and from the storage facility during the day. He confirmed that future SpokeSafe facilities would have a clear delineation of users to separate the logistics users from commuters.
Max outlined his vision that with a growing network of SpokeSafe Hubs, outdoor lockers and third-party spaces managed by SpokeSafe the business could “provide cyclists, with nothing more than a phone and their own bike, access to an entire network of spaces.”
Access to bike storage, showers and lockers is also a key focus at 20 Ropemaker Street, the 450,000 sq ft, 27-storey development designed by Make Architects.
David Ainsworth of CO-RE, who is the development and project manager for the landmark office scheme, confirmed that the provision of high-quality cycling and active travel facilities was a key factor in the 2020 pre-let deal with law firm Linklaters of over 300,000 sq ft.
The property’s architect, Robert Lunn of Make Architects said that the building’s design featured a dedicated, principal entrance for cyclists and active commuters that would make it a “true entrance” and front door and highlighted that this was very important as, with potentially 800 bikes being stored in the building, it could be the main arrival and departure point for between 15 and 25% of all the occupiers.
He told the ReTour audience of the attention that had been taken in considering how to get so many cyclists, along with other active travellers, in and out of the building efficiently. This has been achieved through the use of a wide, shallow staircase with powered wheel ramp and lifts leading to a diverse range of cycle storage solutions, lockers and shower facilities.
The diversity of active travel methods and cycles was also picked up in the presentation by Stewart Dring of the London Cycling Campaign, which has seen great changes and advances during the pandemic. He highlighted the fact that more people are cycling around the capital, increasing the need for more cycling and better cycling infrastructure.
He praised the fact that “decades of progress had been made in a matter of months,” confirming that, before the pandemic, the Mayor of London has been looking to triple the amount of segregated cycle space over four years, five times as much had been put in place between the start of the pandemic and the end of the year.
Stewart also confirmed that London’s ‘Street Space’ programme would see further changes in the future with additional cycle lanes and wider paths, with more measures aimed at reducing access for cars to create low-traffic neighbourhoods.
Stewart suggested that an increase in cycling would improve many of the issues facing London, such as obesity and pollution, making the capital a more healthy and sustainable global city. Which can only be good for everyone.
The second ReTour event will look at the provision of cycling and active travel facilities within office properties across the UK and will be held on Thursday 25th February at 1700 and you can register by clicking here