Hillingdon Wayfinding – Legible London

THE CHALLENGE

Wayfinding in Eastcote and Harefield, and along approximately 20km of the Grand Union Canal (GUC), was either unclear or non-existent. The London Borough of Hillingdon (LBH) was therefore seeking to appoint a consultant to carry out sign designs which would aid wayfinding and help promote walking and cycling in the area. The signs had to be compliant with the ‘Legible London’ format.

SYSTRA’S ROLE

SYSTRA was commissioned by LBH to design ’Legible London’ wayfinding signs for Eastcote town centre, Harefield village centre and at key access points along approximately 20km of the GUC. The design proposals were prepared in full compliance with the Legible London Code of Practice (Transport for London (TfL)’ Legible London’ Artwork Guidance Document) and took into account the location of public transport interchanges, the needs of pedestrians and cyclists and local landmarks.

SYSTRA conducted site visits to assess the best locations for all signs, ensuring they were conspicuous yet unobtrusive. The visits were also used to help us decide what type of signs would be most appropriate in any given location, for example monoliths, miniliths or fingerposts.

A desk study enabled us to identify all major destinations to be included and, as the output had to be sufficient for a contractor to construct the signs, we included sign co-ordinates and bearings. We also obtained C2 utility records to ensure no clashes with proposed signage.

The final report was submitted to LBH in December 2016.