Real estate has a bit of a love affair with the bike. It is the new golf in terms of networking, but it is also becoming a bona fide part of an investment decision. Potential occupiers, responding to the demands of their employees, are pressurising developers to provide cycling facilities in their schemes and local authorities are doing the same through section 106 requirements.
And even residents are becoming more demanding when it comes to bike access. According to Marsh & Parsons, flats and houses close to Boris Bike docking stations could soon command a premium on their selling price as they become an increasingly popular addition to house-hunters’ wish lists.
“It won’t be long before buyers scour property listings for proximity to a bike docking station in the same way they currently do for train stations and local schools,” said Marsh & Parsons chief executive Peter Rollings.
The affectionately named Boris Bike scheme has been a roaring success since its establishment in 2010, with more than 30m rentals of more than 11,000 bikes from some 700 docking stations around London.
But success has come at a cost. Initial installation costs as much as £28,000 per bike. On top of that, running costs can total £4,000 per bike per year, covered by the taxpayer.
But there is a new kid in town that is keen to offer an alternative to the Boris Bike and help the London mayor to achieve his goal of converting more than 4.5m journeys taken a day in London to bike trips at the same time.
That scheme is the Brompton Bike Hire.
Originally launched in 2011, the British-made folding bicycle company is back with a new, improved scheme. The hire business, run by former CBRE director Harry Scrope, is keen to put its mobile-phone controlled Brompton bike lockers at mainline commuter stations throughout central London and has had positive early discussions with Network Rail. The system costs a fraction of the Boris Bike scheme, just £3,200 per bike or £1,200 per bike for in-office lockers.
Scrope is in talks with both Transport for London and the Greater London Authority to see how the installation of Brompton Bike Hire lockers can form part of the capital’s pledge to improve cycling and the cycling network in London, with discussions ongoing with planners on how it could become an element of section 106 agreements.
After having agreed partnerships with half a dozen local authorities, and with half a dozen more in the pipeline, Scrope is now in talks with the developer community, including the likes of Argent, Crosstree, Blackstone and the Malaysian owners of Battersea Power Station, about installing the docks at their schemes.
They are keen to get involved but need TfL on board for the scheme to really find some momentum. One said: “If the councils and TfL allowed us to use some of our s106 payments for the Brompton Bike Hire, we could provide a much greater number of bikes. The Boris scheme has been great but Brompton should be allowed to supplement that in a more cost-effective manner.”
Scrope says the Brompton Bike Hire, which costs from as little as £2.50 a day for riders, is a simple investment for developers – all maintenance costs of the scheme are taken on by Brompton.
And with a four-bike block of lockers taking up as much space as one Boris bike, the scheme frees up more space for public realm or commercial use.
Whatever the type of cycling facility, having one close to a commercial or residential development is becoming increasingly vital from an investor perspective. Any developer or council that ignores the power of the bicycle does so at its peril.
Property’s cycle safety pledge
With the number of cranes that pepper the London skyline, there is no denying that development and construction in the capital is continuing at a fierce pace. But, although development is good news for the industry, more lorries on the roads is not always such good news for cyclists.
More than half of all cycling fatalities in London involve heavy goods vehicles, which are often connected in some
way to the property sector.
But the real estate industry, Transport for London and the cycling community are working together to make moving around the capital – whatever your mode of transport – safer.
In 2011, Cycle To, the organiser of the annual Cycle To MIPIM ride, drew up a special charter with the help of the industry to promote best practice for vehicle safety in the construction sector. Guidelines in the charter now form part of the TfL Standard for construction logistics: managing work-related road risk. The charity is also directly involved with CLOCS, a construction industry group formed following the outcome of a TfL report into the disproportionate number of cyclist deaths that involved heavy goods vehicles. It is working hard to create safer practices, safer vehicles and better awareness.
Peter Murray, founder of Cycle To MIPIM and chairman of New London Architecture, is also demanding action from those in the built environment sector to help cut deaths on the roads.
Following the death of architect Francis Golding in 2013, Murray set up the Construction Industry Cycling Commission. Chaired by Almacantar boss Mike Hussey, the body is researching the major causes of accidents for vulnerable road users – pedestrians, scooter users, and others, as well as cyclists – and what can be done to stop them.
Initial findings reveal that junction design is critical, with the majority of fatalities being caused by left-turning lorries.
Last week, the NLA hosted a cycling safety debate that linked up speakers in London and New York to find out how the other great world city was dealing with similar levels of fatalities. Safety for vulnerable road users became a political issue after the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed on the streets of New York equalled and then surpassed the number of homicides in the city.
Urban design will form a major part of the safety solution, with the consensus being that space is needed to make travelling by foot, pedal or even scooter safer. But in a city where space is in high demand but low supply, finding that solution will not be easy.
Find out more about CICC at www.cyclingcommission.org and CLOCS at www.clocs.org.uk
The Brompton Bike revolution
The iconic folding Brompton bike was designed and built by Andrew Ritchie in his flat in South Kensington, opposite the Brompton Oratory, in 1975.
The company makes all its 45,000 bikes a year in the UK, and some 75,000 are cycled around London every day.
Brompton Bike Hire bikes are available to rent in 27 public locations around the country, including Manchester Piccadilly station, Moor Street station in Birmingham, Bristol, Maidstone, Southampton, Ashford and four locations in London – Ealing Broadway station, Peckham Rye station, Turnham Green station and Whittington Hospital in Archway.
To find out more about Brompton and the bike hire scheme, visit www.bromptonbikehire.com
