The New West End Company’s masterplan for Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street marked another milestone as work started on the £5m Japanese-inspired makeover of Oxford Circus which will allow shoppers to walk across the junction diagonally for the first time.
The revamped crossing is due to reopen in time for the Regent Street and Oxford Street Christmas lights switch on events in November. This forms a key part Westminster City Council, Transport for London and New West End Company’s wider plans to renew the West End ahead of the 2012 Olympics and funding has been provided by the Crown Estate, owner of Oxford Circus.
The design is based on Tokyo’s famous Shibuya crossing, renowned for allowing people to cross with ease. At the same time Oxford Circus is set to get all its existing barriers and street clutter remodelled in order to give pedestrians the freedom to move around quickly, both straight ahead and diagonally – across both Regent Street and Oxford Street.
Richard Dickinson, chief executive of New West End Company, said: “We’re delighted that the Oxford Circus Diagonals will allow more space for pedestrians and give the Oxford Street and Regent Street junction back to shoppers. Nine out of 10 visitors to London come to the West End so we have a duty to ensure that it continues to be the world’s top shopping destination in 2012.”
The street improvements come at a time when new research from Colliers CRE shows the West End is bucking the national trend with a relatively low level of retail vacancies. The number of retail voids in central London as a proportion of total retail units stood at 6.0 per cent in January 2009 – down from 7.8 per cent in July 2008 and 8.4 per cent two years ago.
