City of London Pedway Scheme
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The City of London Pedway Scheme is a largely
elevated An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks ...
pedway Pedways (short for pedestrian walkways) are elevated or underground walkways, often connecting urban high-rises to each other, other buildings, or the street. They provide quick and comfortable movement from building to building, away from traff ...
network that evolved out of a plan to transform traffic flows in the
City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
by separating pedestrians from street level traffic using elevated walkways. First devised as part of the post World War II reconstruction plans for London, it was put into effect mainly from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, and had been largely mothballed by the 1980s. The scheme was partially revived in 2017 when a new section of walkway was added as part of a development in London Wall.


History

Versions of the plan had been under consideration since the 19th century, and given shape by the German Bauhaus movement, but the scheme was only given impetus in London after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, during which London had suffered severe bomb damage. Enthusiasts for the scheme saw an opportunity to put it into practice through the post-war reconstruction programme, and in 1947 architect
Charles Holden Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
and planner
William Holford William Graham Holford, Baron Holford, (22 March 1907 – 17 October 1975) was a British architect and town planner. Biography Holford was educated at Diocesan College, Cape Town and returned to Johannesburg. From 1925–30 he studied archite ...
developed a blueprint that envisaged a network of first-floor walkways that would connect buildings across the City. By the mid-1960s, the
City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...
had incorporated the scheme into its
development plan A development plan sets out a local authority's policies and proposals for land use in their area. The term is usually used in the United Kingdom. A Local Plan is one type of development plan. The development plan guides and shapes day-to-day dec ...
. Although no coherent network was ever defined, designers of new developments were required to incorporate first-floor access to the Pedway network as a condition of being granted planning consent. As most of the network had not been built, this meant that many developments incorporated unused "dead space" at first-floor level and partial walkways that led to dead ends. In consequence, the scheme was unpopular with many architects. Buildings that were required to incorporate links to the Pedway included the National Westminster Tower, which incorporated a pedestrian bridge across Bishopsgate that was never used and is now demolished; the Commercial Union building, the Barbican, and Draper's Gardens. By the mid-1980s, the scheme had effectively been discontinued. The reason for its ultimate demise were escalating costs and the increase in influence of the conservation lobby, which opposed the extensive redevelopment of the historic areas of the City. The Pedway scheme only succeeded in establishing itself in areas that required extensive post-war reconstruction. The most extensive part of the network to be completed was in the Barbican Estate and surrounding streets; the main entrance to the
Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...
is, to this day, at first-floor level. Other significant stretches of the Pedway network were built in Lower Thames Street, Cannon Street and around the former Stock Exchange building. In 2017, the pedway scheme was revisited when section of walkway was added as part of a new development on
London Wall The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London. It has origins as an initial mound wall and ...
.


List of City of London Pedways

The list below shows routes of pedways on OpenStreetMap
The Barbican Highwalks
including the new London Wall walkways)
Blackfriars / Baynard House pedwayPeter's Hill pedway
(all at ground level)
Fyefoot Lane pedwaySuffolk Lane pedwaySwan Lane pedway
(all that remains of this pedway is a staircase to a landing)
Pudding Lane pedwayBishopsgate pedwaysMiddlesex Street Estate
(currently no public access)


Pedways in other places

Pedways were planned, implemented and demolished in many other UK cities. In Manchester, there were the Hulme Crescents . T Dan Smith planned the Streets in the Sky in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
. There was a scheme planned and abandoned in Liverpool, leaving
Liverpool Moorfields station Moorfields railway station is an underground railway station in the city centre of Liverpool, England. The station is situated on both the Northern and Wirral Lines of the Merseyrail network. It is the third-busiest station on the Merseyrail ...
with subterranean track, but a first floor booking hall. In Europe, pedways exist in Paris La Défense and Beaugrenelle area, Lyon in La Part Dieu area, Bordeaux in Mériadeck area ... Pedways (and pedestrian tunnels) have been more successfully implemented in other parts of the world especially where fully enclosed connections allow year-round use even during inclement weather. They are sometimes called skyways. Examples include
Central Elevated Walkway The Central Elevated Walkway is an extensive footbridge network spanning Admiralty, Central and parts of Sheung Wan, near Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. The system was built in phases by the Hong Kong Government and various developers, such as ...
in Hong Kong and the
Houston tunnel system The Houston tunnel system is a network of subterranean, climate-controlled, pedestrian walkways that links 95 full city blocks below Houston's downtown streets. It is approximately long. There are similar systems in Chicago, Dallas, Oklahoma Ci ...
providing protection from heat and humidity, and
PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...
in Toronto, +15 in Calgary, the
Chicago Pedway The Chicago Pedway is a network of tunnels, ground-level concourses and bridges connecting skyscrapers, retail stores, hotels, and train stations throughout the central business district of Chicago, Illinois. With a length of more than 40 down ...
and the
Minneapolis Skyway System The Minneapolis Skyway System is an interlinked collection of enclosed pedestrian footbridges that connect various buildings in 80 full city blocks over of Downtown Minneapolis, enabling people to walk in climate-controlled comfort year-ro ...
, providing protection from cold.


References


External links

* This documentary about the City of London Pedway Scheme,
The Pedway: Elevating London
', was made in 2013 by filmmaker Chris Bevan Lee. * {{coords, 51.51824, -0.0945, display=title Buildings and structures in the City of London Skyways