Introduction
Planning permission for the world leading centre for Neurological and Dementia research was granted unanimously for the scheme during September 2019.
Momentum was very proud to work on the transport aspects of the University College London (UCL) development of the Former Royal Free Hospital at 256 Gray’s Inn Road. The new state-of-the-art facility will be home to UCL Neuroscience and will include their new Dementia Research Institute and an associated University College London Hospital (UCLH) clinic as well as an academic department.
As part of the transformative development, the new facility will require the following transport considerations:
- Pedestrian, cycle and patient arrivals by patient transport vehicles to the front of the site, and alignment with LB Camden’s future cycle infrastructure ambitions
- Delivery and servicing access and arrivals by staff and patients using accessible vehicles to the rear of the site
- Maintaining existing delivery, servicing and waste access for student accommodation to the rear of the site
As part of our work, it was noted that dementia patients and their chaperones need to arrive as near to the entrance to the clinic as possible to improve legibility and reduce anxiety, which can be symptoms of their condition. With this understanding we had to ensure we carefully and diligently developed strategies that would alleviate such stresses for patients.
Complementing the state of the art facility, there was an aspiration on the Council’s and UCL’s part to provide a calm, pleasant, safe and motor vehicle-free public space adjacent to the hospital in the vicinity of the academic department; and a new east-west pedestrian and cycle route across the site to improve permeability to the wider community.
Therefore, Momentum’s access strategy for the development focused on providing an appropriate patient arrival experience for dementia patients, as well as facilitating and encouraging users of the development to travel by sustainable modes and enabling delivery and servicing for efficient operation of the development.
We developed a management strategy for the access route for patient transport vehicles. This route was the same as that for pedestrians and cyclists entering and passing through the site as well as crossing a proposed cycle lane (now implemented). Our management strategy limited the number of vehicles permitted to access the site and timed their arrivals and departures to outside pedestrian and cycle peak hours.
Another challenge Momentum was able to overcome successfully involved designing access for disabled drivers and deliveries and servicing for the development, as well as an existing student accommodation block to the rear of the site. This consisted of a traffic light system to manage access to the goods yard, at basement level, for delivery vehicles and to the accessible parking bays within the site. The highways at the front of the site were designed to incorporate significant cycle link improvements aligning with LB Camden’s future ambitions on Gray’s Inn Road.
Momentum was also responsible for developing a bespoke waste management strategy which included storage and collection arrangements for standard general and recyclable materials in addition to specialist clinical waste streams associated with the research facility.
Since 2019, Momentum has advised on the transport aspects of various options for different academic and research uses for parts of the site as well as assisting in discharging waste management conditions.
