Nine Elms Cycling and Public Realm Projects Manual

Co-ordinating better cycling and walking provision across the Nine Elms on the South Bank Opportunity Area

The ambition for Nine Elms on the South Bank is that all streets will provide conditions that will make cycling an attractive option for getting around and a more integral part of people’s daily lives. The Projects Manual includes focused designs and visions for a series of planned interventions to the highways and public realm network to deliver a high quality cycling environment.

Commissioned by Transport for London, the manual was conceived to be used as a resource to augment existing provision, as well as to inform the creation of new routes. Sixteen interlinked routes were developed into a cohesive cycle network. The Projects Manual identifies a series of individual projects which will, in sum, deliver the overarching aim of attractive and integrated cycling provision across the 195-hectare Nine Elms on the South Bank Opportunity Area.

We Made That and Urban Movement developed a number of coordinated concept designs as part of delivery of a cycle route network. The designs were required to achieve: integration of safe, accessible cycling into the urban realm, consistency with existing area-specific urban design guidance, assistance with the identification of spaces required for safeguarding, delivery of routes and infrastructure and clarity for local planning authorities and other stakeholders in negotiations on development proposals.

Miles Street (looking east through the underpass)

“This Projects Manual envisages a series of public realm interventions which, when delivered, would create a universally-accessible cycling network for the area and its surroundings. This would normalise cycling, making it part of everyday life.”

Robin Buckle, Head of Urban Design, Transport for London

Nine Elms on the South Bank is a 195ha Opportunity Area supported by the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Wandsworth, the Greater London Authority and Transport for London. It is scheduled to transform from a peripheral, inner city area to a new district of London’s Central Activities Zone, with 18,000+ new homes and 20,000 – 25,000 jobs.

The area is the largest piece of London to be redeveloped since the Great Fire in 1666. This project has therefore required detailed liaison and co-ordination with a large number of stakeholders and design teams for a variety of development sites and design development to RIBA Stage 2+, in order to allow projects to be taken forward to delivery by Transport for London or by other design teams as appropriate.

The Projects Manual sets a quality benchmark for accessible cycling in this key growth area. In doing so, the projects seek to support good growth through sustainable transport networks. As new homes and jobs are delivered, this innovative manual aims to create better places and ensure accessibility for anyone seeking to use a bicycle as a means of transport.