Removing excess clutter and simplifying pedestrian crossings has created a simple and elegant streetscape for Kensington High Street. Designed by Project Centre.
Kensington High Street lies at the heart of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and is not only a major east-west radial route to the centre of London, but also an important commercial/retail street flanked by highly desirable residential areas
In recognition of this the Borough Council initiated a programme of streetscape improvements in the mid-1990s to improve the quality of the public realm as an attractive place to live and work, and to sustain the vitality and viability of the High Street as a major shopping destination in the face of other competing retail developments.
Between 1995 and 1998 the Borough Council commissioned Urban Initiatives to carry out a series of background studies in order to establish a draft strategy and recommendations for High Street Improvements. However, it was not until 2000 that a consensus on a way forward began to emerge. This developed out of three important events; the first was the decision that the new street should accommodate existing traffic flows, which set certain design parameters; the second was the election of Daniel Moylan to the post of Deputy Leader of the Council and chair of the Environmental Services Committee; and the third was the appointment of Project Centre to develop integrated traffic engineering and streetscape design proposals.
With a forward thinking Councillor now leading the Kensington High Street Working Party, and a progressive multi-disciplinary consultant on board, the design objectives started to shift away from standard traffic engineering solutions to a more radical streetscape design. This redressed the balance from vehicles to pedestrians and created a coherent, legible and easily accessible street.
Completed in 2003 over six phases the revamped street has clearly achieved these aims by removing all unnecessary visual and physical clutter from the street, coordinating the design and location of new street furniture, and coherently defining the footway/carriageway boundary.
Lord Rogers of Riverside has said of the scheme, "it is the first time I have seen such high quality in England, easily comparable to the best examples on the continent".
