CRP’s Spotlight On: South Bank BID

This week, we are showcasing the work of CRP partner South Bank BID. Established in 2014, South Bank BID’s vision is to help create a world-class neighbourhood for businesses, residents and students alike. CRP spoke to Abdel Najid, Head of Place Management, about the BID’s recent work.

On behalf of our 250+ levy paying businesses, the BID delivers projects and funds initiatives that reflect the area’s reputation as the cultural heart of London. This includes cleaning and security services through South Bank Patrol and South Bank Clean Team, who work 7 days a week across the BID district. The BID also invests in maintaining and strengthening South Bank’s reputation with a range of audiences through the South Bank London brand. With a visitor website with over 500,000 visitors per year pre-pandemic, together with an ongoing reach of over 325,000 followers across its social media channels, South Bank London packages and promotes the best of what’s happening in our area to both domestic and international visitors, alongside longform articles on the history and cultural heritage that makes South Bank such a unique place.

In order to make sure the voices of South Bank’s businesses are collectively heard, the BID works closely with a number of local stakeholders, including the GLA, Southwark and Lambeth councils, and both local MPs on policy matters including public realm, environment, construction co-ordination, business support services and advocacy. In 2020, the BID helped to co-found the South Bank and Waterloo Management Group, whose purpose is to ensure a strategically coordinated recovery and response to the challenges created in the South Bank and Waterloo area by the pandemic. Recently the BID was confirmed as a Board member of the newly established London Tourism Recovery Board, working as the voice of industry to help deliver a coordinated London recovery campaign, which South Bank and its attractions will be well represented in, as one of London’s foremost neighbourhoods.

Also, as part of CRP’s Clean Air Villages 3 project, we have developed and implemented several environmentally sustainable initiatives to promote active travel and improve air quality locally including:

• Two online workshops on active travel (workshop 1) and cycling (workshop 2) delivered for BID businesses to help incentivise employees to walk or cycle more
• The installation of Vivacity traffic monitoring sensors, which not only help track different vehicle modes and their average emissions but they are also key to tracking levels of returning footfall to the South Bank
• Procurement of a cargo bike for use by South Bank Businesses to make zero emissions deliveries locally
• Clean Air Route Finder, which shows two routes from Waterloo station which have been monitored and identified as being 30% to 60% less polluted than more popular alternatives
• Promotion of the CRP Clean Air Villages Directory, which currently shows 41 businesses who deliver their goods and services to the South Bank BID area via ultra-low emission vehicles, cargo bikes or by foot