Hello, Jason. How are you? 

 

I'm good. David, how are you? 

 

I'm very good. I'm interested to know about your B Corp journey as a firm, and I wanted to ask first what made you decide to go down that route, and then indeed how the process was?

 

Sure. Well, B Corp and the decision to go with that sat pretty well with us as a company. It's an internationally recognized mark of excellence and our core values are really around sustainability, collaboration, excellence, innovation, and ethics. All of that really incorporates what we're about, and what we strive to do; how we approach projects, how we enjoy working with people, and ultimately how we leave the place better than when we started. So, I think B Corp was really a no-brainer for us. It helps attract like-minded employees, and it connects us with clients as well. So, it was something that we sought to achieve quite early on.

 

Do you think it will give you a competitive advantage as well as an ethical one?

 

I think it gives us a starting point. When we are looking for the right employees, the right talent, they'll know what we're about. And they'll know where they might fit as well, in terms of what we expect from them. I also think with clients, especially in the public sector, moving into that net zero space and sustainability being at the forefront, they are looking for people who think that way. And working with companies that live and breathe that is something that will give them confidence and they'll bring that towards their projects. So yes, I think it does.

 

Speaking of your projects, one in particular really stands out for me. And that's your work on The Strand, which has been very transformational for that area. How did you get involved? How do you think it's bedding in, as a project? And what sort of lessons do you think can be learned from this for other schemes and other parts of London? 

 

The Strand is transformational. When I first got involved in that, Westminster City Council was as actually trying to get an idea of how to actually deliver the project because of the large-scale impacts, and how transformational it actually was. I was involved with helping to look at the scheme, the elements that needed to be delivered, how it could be split, and develop a procurement strategy for splitting the highways elements from the public realm elements. It was obviously complicated by COVID at the time; we actually drafted a whole procurement strategy and then COVID hit, and we had to revise some of that. It is actually a meanwhile scheme, that has been implemented at the moment. We had a full scheme that was going to cost a little bit more and that had a few more elements to it. But because of COVID and the need to redirect some of the funds, some elements were stripped back into the meanwhile space, so that it could be tested around how it operates today... 

 

Oh, really?

 

So, in actual fact, we are testing the space with the opportunity to make improvements to it, three, four or five years down the line. So, when you ask about embedding the space and how it's operating, we've actually got scope to look at that in the future, depending on how it's operating now. There are a lot of things that we're trying to implement; things like events and how the space can be activated and used for the surrounding locals, businesses, and community.

 

As a cyclist, it really is transformational; as a pedestrian too, and it's just such a breath of fresh air that it's not just a traffic island around there, compared to what it was. And similarly, I suppose, Somerset House did all that sort of a decade or more ago in terms of ridding cars from the scene. How much of your work across London is in a similar scope, in terms of trying to reinstate places more towards the pedestrian rather than the motor vehicle?

 

There is a lot of that going on. Active travel is one of the key aspects that we're working on. And that's promoting walking, cycling and other forms of transport. Strand Aldwych is a prime example where we've managed to put cycle lanes around Aldwych. We actually came across shortages of cycle parks because it was so successful, which is a great problem to have, but it has been rectified! Similarly, the West End Project, another transformational scheme where Tottenham Court Road is, during the day closed to allow only buses and cyclists, as well as segregated cycling down Gower Street. So, it highly promotes cycling around the area. And there's a lot of other schemes that we have, which are all around cycle permeability. How do you add cycle permeability to spaces? Even on one-way streets? How do you get cyclists going two ways, to encourage that level of cycling in the area? So, I think that's a key aspect of almost all schemes that we are involved in today.

 

Lastly, how would you view London currently, in terms of its public realm, in comparison to other world cities that you may have worked in or just simply know about?

 

That's a difficult comparison. I mean, there are just so many different factors out there. A lot of people talk about Amsterdam, and how good the cycling is. But that's a tenth of the size of London; it's pretty rare to find a city of the size and scale, I guess, you're looking at New York, and other places like that. I think if I had to rate it, just having visited New York, I've never worked there, but just, I guess from a holistic view, I think London is right up there, in terms of the variety of public spaces, of all shapes and sizes. And I think that really makes a difference - even some of the smaller places that aren't as transformational, but having small spaces that allow people to stop, linger, rest, meet - I think those make a huge difference to the community and the entire environment that you live and work in. So, I think on that basis, the number of parks, public spaces, and areas where you can hold events, as well. I think they make a huge impact to how the city operates. And I think London's right up there, out of all the places I've been - a decent number of them, I think. 

 

Very last question: what are you up to as a firm? Where are your latest projects? What are we likely to see next from you guys?

 

Well, St. Paul's Gyratory is one that you've heard of, where again we are working with LDA. It's still in the design phases. So, watch this space! That's probably the next big transformational scheme.

 

Could you describe that in a nutshell?

 

It's quite similar to the approach that West End Projects and the Strand e taking where we're removing some of the parts of the gyratory system to traffic, creating a two-way road operating system and then a new public space, as a result of being able to close off a section of road. So many of the projects that we work in are around moving traffic out of the area, and reclaiming a lot of the road space so they can be used, repurposed as public realm space for others. We've also got small projects, where we've worked with private clients which are lobbying to create road space and public realm. One such is around UCL, and then working with the London Borough of Camden to again repurpose some of the road space for their students and adding benches and seating areas and things like that to allow people to meet and greet each other.

 

Fantastic. Well, this has made me feel very optimistic about London's future because it sounds like it's heading in the right direction in the public realm sense. Is that something you'd agree with?

 

Definitely! I think there is a lot of work to be done. We, in terms of the collective 'we' are working towards net zero and things like that; key sustainability goals. Big public realm schemes are a good start. There's a lot more to be done; a lot more schemes that need to be implemented; more skills, more people. But I think it's going to be an amazing start.

 

Great. Well, thanks very much for your time, Jason, and good luck with it all.

 

All right, great. Thanks a lot, David. Cheers.