London's mini-Holland concept sees lead architects appointed to London boroughs
by Katie Buckley | 06 Jun 2014
Residential street in Waltham Forest with proposed new cycle paths / Waltham Forest Council
London’s mini-Holland concept, pioneered by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC), has shifted up a gear since its inception. Now, with further formulated plans, the three bid winning boroughs have had architectural figureheads appointed to each project.
Supported by Transport for London (TFL), London mayor Boris Johnson and several prominent architects, three outer London boroughs are being given £30m (US$50m, €37m) each to revolutionise their cycling habits. Each of the boroughs have now been assigned an architect each to carry through the schemes.
Roger Hawkins, of Hawkins Brown Architects will lead the Waltham Forest project, while Peter Murray, NLA (New London Architecture) chair has the responsibility of Kingston. Sunand Prasad, former RIBA president, has been coupled with the Enfield scheme.
In a bid to create Dutch-style town centres in each of these boroughs, the architects – who all sit on the mayor’s design advisory panel – have been given the job of continuing the proposed plans in their respective areas to improve the cycling and general infrastructure.
All three town centres will undergo a radical redesign, weaving cycling into the fibres of those areas. Kingston will gain a major new cycling hub, Enfield's town centre will undergo a complete overhaul with segregated superhighways and Waltham Forest will also get a new semi-segregated superhighway with the aim of creating “Hackney-style” cycle-friendly low-traffic neighbourhoods.”
Roger Hawkins, speaking to BDonline, said “This is a great opportunity for some of the outer London boroughs to improve their cycle network” He added that his role and ambition was to “ensure the quality of public space is being thought about.”
London’s mini-Holland concept, pioneered by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC), has shifted up a gear since its inception. Now, with further formulated plans, the three bid winning boroughs have had architectural figureheads appointed to each project. Supported by Transport for London (TFL), London mayor Boris Johnson and several prominent architects, three outer London boroughs are being given £30m (US$50m, €37m) each to revolutionise their cycling habits. Each of the boroughs
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