Leading architect and historic building consultant Purcell Miller Tritton is pleased to announce the completion of the first stages of a major programme of improvements to London’s iconic Whitehall streetscape.
The practice is project architect for the £25m ‘Whitehall Streetscape Improvement Project’, which sees the Cabinet Office and Westminster City Council working together to reinvigorate tourist sites and the urban environment in which people live and work. The overarching aim of the scheme is to introduce more robust security measures in a manner sympathetic to the local environment and its historic setting to achieve a truly world-class built environment.
Whitehall is one of the most important and best known streets in the UK. It is at the heart of an area of enormous historic significance and is home to the Cenotaph as well as the National Monument to the Women of World War II, which is why great care is being taken to protect its unique heritage. Best quality craftsmanship and traditional materials, such as Portland and York stone, are being used throughout the scheme to ensure that improvements are presented in a manner befitting their historic location. English Heritage is also heavily involved in documenting the area’s rich past during the works.
The extensive improvements include: widening the pavements and public highways, alterations to traffic management, more pedestrian crossings and better access for buses, taxis and cycles. Further work allows for the provision of new and improved street lighting and safer viewing areas for visitors to the location’s many attractions. Streets benefiting from the alterations include: Horse Guards Road, Parliament Street and Victoria Embankment as well as Whitehall itself.
In recognition of the project’s superior design, the excellence of the development and the effective and appropriate use of security systems within the public realm, the Whitehall Streetscape Project was awarded the prestigious Institution of Highways and Transportation’s Security in the Public Realm Award 2008.