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Electric Avenue 
 

Description of Works
As part of the ongoing regeneration of Brixton, FM Conway was commissioned by the London borough of Lambeth to support a £1 million project to improve the market and public realm on Electric Avenue.

Funded by Lambeth Council with support from Transport for London, the Mayor of London’s High Street Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Townscape Heritage Initiative, the project set out to deliver an improved environment for the street market to boost trade, make it easier for local people to shop and encourage visitors into the town centre.

Services used on this project Civil Engineering Highways Maintenance
Delivering Innovation 

In line with the design developed by urban architects Gort Scott, the improvements saw FM Conway lay more than 2000 sq m of new high-quality granite setts along the length of Electric Avenue in place of the old asphalt pavement, which was recovered and taken back to FM Conway’s state-of-the-art asphalt plant in Erith for recycling. The team installed new kerbs and Giffa power units, upgraded the signage for the area and repaired and cleaned the street’s drainage systems to improve surface run-off.  

FM Conway also oversaw the upgrade of the street’s lighting by a specialist subcontractor and the installation of a new illuminated Electric Avenue sign to attract visitors into this vibrant area. 

Improving the experience for shoppers and market traders was a key concern for Lambeth Council. FM Conway’s team rationalised the street furniture along Electric Avenue and relocated the market stalls to the centre of the street, allowing traders to have new, larger stalls which are quicker to set up and easier to transport.  The new layout also allows for easier pedestrian flow, improving the market’s accessibility for elderly or disabled people and those with young children. 

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We completed the upgrade works in two main phases to allow market stalls and local shops to remain open throughout. Traders were involved in the scheme at every step of the way to ensure that we could adapt our approach to meet their needs.

Karl Flanagan - Delivery Manager, FM Conway
Challenges and Solutions

Ensuring that stallholders and local shops could continue trading throughout the upgrade works was critical to minimising disruption.  

FM Conway’s Business Liaison Officer, Helen McConnell, was on site throughout the works to ensure traders and local residents were regularly informed about progress with the refurbishment: “We were conscious that keeping the local community, and in particular the market traders, up to date throughout this project was crucial. We understand that change can be disruptive, so we were keen to work closely with the traders.  Regular face-to-face visits and a fortnightly update newsletter ensured that we maintained good relations with them and that Electric Avenue remained its vibrant self throughout the project.”