News

“This is about making people-friendly streets sit at the heart of planning.”

In this article Markides Associates Senior Transport Planner Will Salt explores what the introduction of Active Travel England as a statutory consultee from June will mean for our Clients.

Our resident philosopher Andreas Markides explores the myth of the Horn of Plenty and the lessons it holds for garden cities.

Approved Document Part S of the Building Regulations, Infrastructure relating to the charging of Electric Vehicles, was introduced in June 2022 to futureproof new developments so that they can accommodate the anticipated growth in electric vehicle numbers.

In response to the 'triple challenges’ of the climate emergency, congestion, and toxic air pollution (whereby poor air quality kills 9,400 in London each year), TfL have launched a consultation on plans to expand the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to cover a much larger extent of the capital from 29th August 2023. The new ULEZ will cover the extent of the existing Low Emission Zone (LEZ), encompassing most of Greater London.

Last week, the Markides Associates team had the privilege of visiting the brand-new facility of PEARL (Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory), part of UCL at the invitation of Professor Nick Tyler CBE FREng.

With temperatures set to soar up to 40 degrees Celsius in some areas of the UK, many of us are thinking about the heat. It’s becoming a regular observation that our urban areas are increasingly hot and dry. Parks turn brown in the summer. Reservoirs are depleted. Even in my own little microcosm, I find the plants I can grow easily in the countryside are no match for the arid suntrap that is my London garden. Chili peppers survive but become nuclear in self-defence against the heat while soft-leaved plants simply wither up, burnt out by the sun.

Recently, I’ve been undertaking a number of healthy streets audits and now this heatwave has me thinking that a ‘healthy’ street should be one in which climate extremes don’t occur.

Car free neighbourhoods are not a new concept, many examples exist across Europe, particularly in countries like Denmark and Germany. Car free developments or Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) are also increasingly popular (although often controversial) in the UK and have been the common in London for a number of years.

It is widely recognised that the transport world is evolving at apace: whether that be in the switch to electric vehicles, increases in the levels of active travel observed, or the home delivery phenomenon accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But what does all this mean for developers and transport planners? And how can development provide resilience in a future world filled with so much uncertainty?

The myth of Atlantis is well-known, and the story has been so captivating that some people have even gone in search of the lost city. However, very few people will have paid due attention to the word ‘’myth’’ which is very significant because that is exactly what Atlantis is - a myth!

This week, October 11 – 15, is National Work Life Week. National Work Life Week is an opportunity for both employers and employees to focus on well-being at work and work-life balance.