West End Project is Camden Council’s £35m investment to transform public realm around Tottenham Court Road, bringing nature in, improving air quality and strengthening climate resilience.

London’s population is rising by around 100,000 a year. Over the next decade, the city is likely to grow denser, hotter and more congested.

West End Project is Camden Council’s £35m investment in public realm as the antidote, greening the area around London’s Tottenham Court Road, improving air quality and strengthening climate resilience.

This complex renewal programme unpicks decades of vehicular dominance. It takes busy London streets and spaces and reimagines them as places fit for a different future, with climate, people and nature inspiring the new designs.

Road space has been reclaimed, 0.9 Ha of public space created, pavements widened and decluttered and 2.6km of cycle lanes added. It has removed the one-way systems on Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street to reduce traffic, including across neighbouring streets. Community space is restored with Whitfield Gardens, and there are five new pocket parks.

Traffic volume is reduced along Tottenham Court Road by up to 70% during the day and on Gower Street by up to 45%. Air quality has improved with NO2 levels 34% lower on Tottenham Court Road and 37% lower on Gower Street than in 2018.

Alfred Place Gardens is the first new park in the area for 25 years. There is a real shortage of play in this part of London, and sculptural seating, stepping stones and climbing structures are designed for incidental play.
Princes Circus, a previously hostile environment for pedestrians and cyclists, takes back part of Shaftesbury Avenue and Bloomsbury Street to create two warmly lit, linked public spaces with generous seating and woodland planting.

The greatest success of WEP lies in the way it demonstrates the potential of places to flourish once road space becomes a park or a green public square and that there's value in reclaiming space for people and for nature. The project paves the way for all cities to function differently, as softer, calmer, more resilient and more sociable places.

Sophie Thompson, Director, LDA Design said:

“West End Project is making London friendlier. Loneliness in the city is as great a threat to health as obesity. It’s in the public realm that our lives overlap, and the project creates many more lovely oases of calm, encouraging chance encounters. Wherever possible, the spaces have also been designed so they can also host local events and activities, such as cultural celebrations. They have been lit in a way that makes them feel just as safe and appealing at dusk and after dark.”