NLA Wellbeing Award for Kingston Go Cycle project

We’re proud that the Go Cycle: Kingston Station project has won the Wellbeing category in this year’s New London Awards.

Designed to address the transport pressures of the growing population in Kingston, it is transforming the urban environment by improving facilities for cyclists and pedestrians in the borough, and creating a healthier and greener place for all. As Katie Wood, Director of Operations Consulting at Arup who presented the award, said: “It’s a really fantastic amenity space, not just for cyclists but for everybody.”

The Kingston Go Cycle project, for which the practice assembled the talented team of Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, OKRA Landscape Architects and TOMATO (Communication & Wayfinding), was designed for the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames as its part of the London-wide TfL Mini Holland programme.

“I am absolutely delighted that our Kingston Station Go Cycle team has won this award. We have worked hard to design a piece of city space, which combines inclusive movement infrastructure, high quality public realm and a few building gems in a seamlessly integrated manner for the people of Kingston.”
_{Andy Murdoch, Director – Cities, Buro Happold}

“It stitches together a part of the town centre previously severed by highway and rail infrastructure – and does so in a way that meets the needs of all people. People-powered movement has been brought to the fore to support growth in Kingston in a way that, together with Kingston’s wider Go Cycle programme, has a resulted in a distinctive place that builds on Kingston’s rich history.” Andy Murdoch, Director – Cities, Buro Happold

Working with Kingston’s disability and cycling groups, the team addressed how shared areas can accommodate the needs of all users. They designed a new, safe and enjoyable public space outside the train station in Kingston, celebrating people-powered movement, reconnecting with other sustainable modes of transport such as train and bus, and delivering significant improvements to the experience of visiting, living and working in Kingston.

Go Cycle works successfully alongside the wider network of public spaces and routes in Kingston, as well as fixing the connectivity issues caused by the ring road. The park environment aims to make journeys calmer and more pleasurable, reconnecting people with nature and the elements.

“To win such a prestigious award is a fantastic achievement. It demonstrates the Go Cycle programme is on the right track to providing sustainable, efficient and healthy transport choices for residents.”_{Cllr. Terry Paton, Deputy Leader of Kingston Council and portfolio holder for Go Cycle}

The need for Go Cycle

By 2050 the population of Kingston upon Thames is expected to grow by 30 per cent, meaning more than 50,000 extra people who will need to move around the borough. Sustainable travel is key to accommodating that growth and ensuring the continued success of the borough.

The project had three main aims:

1. To create a new focal point for arrival and departure in and from Kingston, helping people find their way intuitively to the key destinations around the town.

2. To reconnect the historical movement patterns and weave them into the modern transport infrastructure to help make transitions between different forms of transport smoother. This prioritises ground-based, self-propelled transport for people of all ages and;

3. To celebrate the spirit and history of Kingston.

The result is the development of an urban design strategy that reconnects Kingston station with the riverside, town centre and North Kingston.

Kingston Go Cycle gives pedestrians and cyclists improved connections, linking to routes into the medieval town centre, and connecting with a new linear park on disused rail land leading to the River Thames. Three new structures have been created along this route – a wayfinding beacon; a new, wider cycle and pedestrian bridge; and a cycle hub building with capacity for up to 700 bikes. The team worked with stakeholders, including Kingston Museum and Kingston University, to choose local references that influenced the design of the structures. The theme of movement was key, including the manufacture of Hawker Hurricane planes, and the work of local man Eadweard Muybridge, the famous photographer and early filmmaker.

Buro Happold involvement in second NLA 2017 award winner

Buro Happold is also delighted to have been involved with another of the NLA award-winning projects this year: the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL, which won the award for Education. Buro Happold provided the MEP Consultancy, Acoustic Consultancy and Fire Engineering for this Hawkins\Brown project in Bloomsbury, a redevelopment of a 1970s building that doubled the usable area.