View Full Version : What a good Idea
"BUY a flat and get a free bike. That will be the deal for
people who snap up one of more than 60 new flats in
Southampton city centre.
Developers are offering the sweetener because there will be
no car parking spaces on the site. Instead, there will be
spaces for each resident to park their bicycles.
The pioneering project - the first of its kind in the area -
will see new owners at a block in St Mary Street each given
a bicycle with their flats.
They will also have the use of a fleet of six electrically
powered cycles as part of an initiative which has already
won plaudits from green campaign group Transport 2000.
The electric cycles will be made available for residents
under a booking system which will be operated by the
managing agents at the flats.
Work is likely to begin this summer on the development which
is due to be completed in summer 2005.
City highways bosses and developers Cindan Land Ltd will be
monitoring the scheme's success on cutting down congestion
and pollution.
The flats are likely to sell for about £100,000.
The new four-storey block of 63 one-bedroom apartments will
be built above former shops in St Mary Street opposite the
city's Bellway housing development.
Developers are also being forced to provide public open
space and a children's play area as part of the multi-
million pound development.
Roger Hurt, of Cindan Land Ltd, said: "We have conducted
quite a bit of research into electric vehicles and we
thought this was the way to go. There is no car parking
available at the site but this is an environmentally
friendly approach which will help the government meet its
pollution targets."
Transport 2000 Steve Hounsham spokesman said: "This is a
forward thinking and, it has to be said, a brave move.
"We would certainly applaud efforts by developers to
encourage people to use sustainable transport and there
will be a lot of people out there who will be impressed
with this scheme.
"People do want to escape from the stranglehold of the car
and this scheme is obviously very innovative and exciting.
"It deserves a lot of attention and we would certainly like
to see a lot more pro-active schemes of this kind to get
people back on two wheels instead of four."
The chairman of Southampton City Council's planning and
rights of way committee Councillor John Slade said: "I am
glad that companies are now trying to be more innovative in
respect of the development of land in the city. We will
watch this scheme with interest to see if it is successful."
(experimental) Transport & Urban Planning Blog
now at http://notonmywatch.blogs.com (http://notonmywatch.blogs.com/)
If there's no car parking, where are people going to keep
their cars? If the buyers don't already own cars, they
probably already have bikes. I doubt the option to 'book'
the use of a bike is going to lure people into buying a one-
bedroom flat at £100'000. Which market are they going for?
Young professionals are the usual target for one bedroom.
Who is going to maintain and replace the bikes? The
developers? The householders?
> They will also have the use of a fleet of six electrically
> powered cycles
Ugh.
> Don't be such a curmudgeon ;-)
I'm not being curmudgeonly. I just think it's a gimmick.
Simonb wrote:
> If there's no car parking, where are people going to keep
> their cars?
St Mary's is ideal for anyone who works in the City itself
and not too far for anyone working at the Uni or the various
hospitals and med schools.
Don't be such a curmudgeon ;-)
--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk (http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/)
88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University
> £100k is cheap for a 1 bed flat as they often go for about
> £110-£120 here
in rural
> somerset!
You've never been to St Mary Street.
> Not if you are disabled!
Eh?
"Simonb" <sbennett@YOUAREALLHEATHENSwiderworld.co.uk> wrote in message
news:407ea011$0$63621$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk...
> > They will also have the use of a fleet of six
> > electrically powered cycles
>
> Ugh.
Not if you are disabled!
"Simonb" <sbennett@YOUAREALLHEATHENSwiderworld.co.uk> wrote in message
news:407e9f6c$0$63627$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk...
> If there's no car parking, where are people going to keep
> their cars? If the buyers don't already own cars, they
> probably already have bikes. I doubt the option to 'book'
> the use of a bike is going to lure people into buying a
> one-bedroom flat at £100'000....
£100k is cheap for a 1 bed flat as they often go for about
£110-£120 here in rural somerset!
Simonb wrote:
>> Don't be such a curmudgeon ;-)
> I'm not being curmudgeonly. I just think it's a gimmick.
The free bike? For sure. The car-free flats? Anything but.
--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk (http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/)
88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University
> The free bike? For sure. The car-free flats? Anything but.
OK. I see your point. But it's trivialising bikes.
Simonb wrote:
>> The free bike? For sure. The car-free flats?
>> Anything but.
> OK. I see your point. But it's trivialising bikes.
Really? I didn't see it that way, more as a broad hint
really ;-)
--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk (http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/)
88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University
Simonb wrote:
>> £100k is cheap for a 1 bed flat as they often go for
>> about £110-£120 here in rural somerset!
> You've never been to St Mary Street.
And if you have, you'd keep quiet about it ;-)
--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk (http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/)
88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University
On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 15:34:35 +0100, "[Not Responding]"
<not_responding@dev.null.invalid> wrote:
>"BUY a flat and get a free bike. That will be the deal for
>people who snap up one of more than 60 new flats in
>Southampton city centre.
>
>Developers are offering the sweetener because there will be
>no car parking spaces on the site. Instead, there will be
>spaces for each resident to park their bicycles. ... The
>new four-storey block of 63 one-bedroom apartments will be
>built above former shops in St Mary Street opposite the
>city's Bellway housing development.
It would have to be a very secure space. It's not the most
salubrious area of town.
Originally posted by -Lsqnot Respond
"BUY a flat and get a free bike. That will be the deal for
people who snap up one of more than 60 new flats in
Southampton city centre.
Developers are offering the sweetener because there will be
no car parking spaces on the site. Instead, there will be
spaces for each resident to park their bicycles.
The pioneering project - the first of its kind in the area -
will see new owners at a block in St Mary Street each given
a bicycle with their flats.
They will also have the use of a fleet of six electrically
powered cycles as part of an initiative which has already
won plaudits from green campaign group Transport 2000.
The electric cycles will be made available for residents
under a booking system which will be operated by the
managing agents at the flats.
Work is likely to begin this summer on the development which
is due to be completed in summer 2005.
City highways bosses and developers Cindan Land Ltd will be
monitoring the scheme's success on cutting down congestion
and pollution.
The flats are likely to sell for about £100,000.
Developers are also being forced to provide public open
space and a children's play area as part of the multi-
million pound development.
Transport 2000 Steve Hounsham spokesman said: "This is a
forward thinking and, it has to be said, a brave move.
"It deserves a lot of attention and we would certainly like
to see a lot more pro-active schemes of this kind to get
people back on two wheels instead of four."
The chairman of Southampton City Council's planning and
rights of way committee Councillor John Slade said: "I am
glad that companies are now trying to be more innovative in
respect of the development of land in the city. We will
watch this scheme with interest to see if it is successful."
Car-free residential schemes are not new, but very few have actually been built because of the general populus' slavish addiction to motor-transport.
Without knowing the area I cannot comment on whether it is appropriate or not, but you are going to start seeing more of this sort of scheme as the Government's "brownfield" imperative (enshrined in documents like PPG3 Housing) starts to put the squeeze on developers and force them to look at more and more previously developed sites. Town Centres will be a favourite because of their existing public transport links.
I cannot see the booking system for electric bikes being too easy to administer, but who knows? At least one company has been brave enough to try it - although the lure of a return on each flat of at least £60k will doubtless have played a part in their decision making as well ;)
[Not Responding] <not_responding@dev.null.invalid> said:
> The flats are likely to sell for about £100,000.
I hope they give the new householders very nice bikes for
that price! However, I question whether their target market
(rich single people) will be willing to give up their cars
for the privilege owning a swanky new flat. Such a
development would be ideal[1] for me since I don't drive but
since most cyclists own cars too I wonder if the flats will
sell well.
Regards,
-david
[1] Well, ideal if I had £100000 to spare of course...
Simonb wrote:
>
> If there's no car parking, where are people going to keep
> their cars?
Assuming some have cars it will have to be a long way away.
So what? If they choose to buy one of the flats they will
know that won't they?
If the
> buyers don't already own cars, they probably already have
> bikes. I doubt the option to 'book' the use of a bike is
> going to lure people into buying a one-bedroom flat at
> £100'000. Which market are they going for? Young
> professionals are the usual target for one bedroom.
Does it really matter?
> Who is going to maintain and replace the bikes? The
> developers? The householders?
Does it really matter?
John B
"Simonb" <sbennett@YOUAREALLHEATHENSwiderworld.co.uk> wrote in message
news:407ea722$0$63625$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk...
> > £100k is cheap for a 1 bed flat as they often go for
> > about £110-£120 here
> in rural
> > somerset!
>
> You've never been to St Mary Street.
http://www.multimap.com/map/places.cgi?quicksearch=st+mary+-
st&client=public&advanced=
No streets by this name found in somerset.....plymouth is
the closest match.
> No streets by this name found in somerset.....plymouth is
> the closest
match.
It's in Southampton.
On 2004-04-15, [Not Responding] <not_responding@dev.null.invalid> wrote:
>
> Developers are offering the sweetener because there will
> be no car parking spaces on the site. Instead, there will
> be spaces for each resident to park their bicycles.
>
I saw some plans for flats in Harrogate which included
residents' cycle parking. They would be going for similar
prices, and are aimed at people working in the town away
from home - an alternative to working out of hotels I
suppose. One of the flats, mostly single room plus bathroom,
seemed to be missing anything to wash yourself in. I think
it had a loo, but not much else.
- Richard
--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot
com _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street, _/
_/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twilight Zone.
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