The Defra-funded Smarter Greener Logistics (SGL) programme formed part of CRP’s wider activities to encourage sustainable logistics across London. This includes the development of rail freight and walking freight initiatives, helping to improve London’s air quality and supporting CRP’s vision to make London the best place for people, businesses and visitors to thrive.

The programme was delivered in collaboration with 24 partners, with initiatives being delivered under 9 Key Workstreams: 

1. Waterloo Freight Hub – this workstream involved the delivery of a freight hub using underutilised space in Waterloo Station’s undercroft.
2. Urban Logistics Hubs – this involved supporting the development of urban logistics hubs across SGL partners locations
3. Kerbside Management – this workstream involved the delivery of a Kerbside Management trial that enabled SGL partners to trial the use of Virtual Loading Bay technology
4. Click & Collect and Parcel Lockers – this involved supporting the roll out of parcel lockers in SGL Partner locations.
5. Fleet Electrification – this aimed to support local authorities and businesses with their transition to electric vehicles
6. Cargo Bikes and Walking Freight – this involved delivering several cargo bike schemes in SGL partner locations and completing the London Light Freight Walking Trial
7. Logistics Sector Support – this workstream aimed to support the logistics sector through the development of knowledge sharing opportunities as well as through various tools and studies.
8. Monitoring – this workstream focussed on monitoring the impact of SGL schemes as well as providing additional monitoring support to SGL partner schemes that support sustainable freight
9. Project Wide Interventions – this workstream involved supporting the development of river freight into central London.

Key deliverables from the project include:  

The programme was extremely successful and exceeded its emissions savings targets, leading to savings of:

• 23,461.59kg of CO2
• 38.93kg of NOx!

A key achievement of the programme was the launch of the Waterloo Freight Hub. This pioneering 6-month trial transformed an existing underutilised arch within the undercroft of Waterloo Station into a logistics hub, providing capacity for sustainable last-mile logistics courier, Delivery Mates, to receive, sort, and distribute parcels from the hub across London via electrically assisted cargo bikes. Insights from the 6-month trial reveal nearly 2,000 parcels being delivered per week, with up to 10 electrically assisted cargo bikes each travelling over 10km a day, generating emissions savings of over 4,000kg of CO2 throughout the trial duration. The trial represents a critical proof of concept to support the development of a much larger, multi-operator, and multi-modal sustainable freight hub, where middle mile deliveries into Waterloo Station are made by rail, road and river.  

Visit the Waterloo Freight Hub project page here for more information.  

Through SGL, CRP also worked in collaboration with Grid Smarter Cities, City of London Corporation, London Borough of Camden, London Borough of Lambeth, London Borough of Richmond and Transport for London to deliver the SGL Kerbside Management Trial. The trial aimed to provide local authorities, businesses and operators with the opportunity to test Virtual Loading Bays (VLBs) as a kerbside management technology and understand the operational and air quality impacts. A network of 8 VLBs was developed at locations across London, and findings from the trial can be found in our in-depth SGL Unpacked report here.  

CRP also developed several resources including case studies, pier information sheets, monitoring reports and leaflets to share learnings from the programme. Resources can be accessed via the Useful Links section below.  

For further information on Smarter Greener Logistics, please contact CRP Senior Programme Manager Fiona Coull