Delivering Innovation

Floral Street is paved with traditional cobbles; however as they present issues for disabled people and families with push chairs that frequent the area, Westminster City Council (WCC) sought to address this problem as part of CAPCO’s Section 106 obligations.

FM Conway were then commissioned by WCC to design and implement a scheme comprising of three flush ‘walkways’ on Floral Street, which are used as crossing points spaced at intervals along the street with a smooth surface finish.

Challenges and Solutions

As Westminster holds a particular and traditional aesthetic, particularly in the Covent Garden area, the appropriate choice of materials used to construct the walkways was of particular importance. Therefore, porphyry stone was chosen for its variety of colours in order to provide a contrast which fitted well with the surrounding cobbles.

Furthermore, as the area is frequent to high amounts of footfall, the team had to be mindful of the footway space available. Therefore, a number of bollards were relocated to ensure adequate footway width between the line of bollards at the front of the footway and the newly installed planters at the back of the footway.

Outcomes

Starting in January 2020, the scheme was constructed and delivered over a six-week programme and has ultimately provided Westminster’s Covent Garden area with a more accessible public realm for the residents and local public visiting Floral Street.