LDA Design has been commissioned by Camden Council to lead the design for Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood, a major streets and public realm project aiming to reduce traffic dominance and create more attractive, healthier and more inclusive spaces.
Holborn has an architectural and cultural richness that few central London areas can match but it is also widely perceived as a ‘place between’, somewhere to pass through rather than linger. Many roads are heavily trafficked and create severance.
Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood will rethink how eighteen streets and spaces work to transform how pedestrians, cyclists, workers, residents and visitors experience them, and to provide a more supportive environment for nature and biodiversity.
“London needs more places where people, plants and animals thrive together. And so, we will be taking a pioneering all-life approach and changing Liveable into Loveable and celebrating the special qualities of this remarkable area.”
LDA Design Director Sophie Thompson
Changes include the pedestrianisation of Great Russell Street, in front of the British Museum, and a reimagining of New Oxford Street. Great Ormond Street, Great Queen Street and Theobalds Road will all be made more accessible, safer and greener. The scheme is designed to improve air quality and promote health and wellbeing and strengthen climate resilience.
The project is in partnership with Transport for London, and LDA Design is joined a team including Studio Weave, Place Bureau, Tom Massey Studio, Polytechnic, Light Follows Behaviour and Authentic Futures.
LDA Design developed the Public Realm Strategy for Holborn, and the next phase of design development progresses the public realm and highway designs and those for planting, public art, lighting, signage and wayfinding. It will involve engagement with stakeholders, collectively sharing stories and developing narratives around the places that mean something to them. A full public consultation on the scheme proposals is expected late summer.
Image Credits: LDA Design