£46 mil to be spent on Sloane Street’s transformation

A £46 million makeover is scheduled to transform the street that links Sloane Square and Knightsbridge. Planners originally put forward the idea in 2019, however they had to be delayed until now due to the pandemic. The plans, which are funded by The Cadogan Estate and will be delivered in partnership with Kensington and Chelsea Council, hope to make the already very luxurious street even more impressive.

The entirity of Sloane Street will be curated into a green boulevard, with over 100 trees making the ‘elegant and ornamental’ planters their new home. The hope is not only to make the street more aesthetically pleasing, but also to make it more environmental and sustainable. The increased amount of greenery on the street will absorb air pollution, as well as helping to protect against flooding and creating shade in the summer months for pedestrians too. There will be a ‘pocket forest’ created in collaboration with none other than Louis Vuitton, as well as beehives and ponds installed in Cadogan Place Gardens to improve biodiversity in the area too. Waste collection bikes will be replacing trucks, again, with the hope of improving air quality.

Though the majority of the architecture will be overseen by John McAslan + Partners (the same crew who did the huge renovations on King’s Cross Station), it will be multiple Chelsea Flower Show winner Andy Sturgeon who will be in charge of the flowers and shrubs. He will be going for a suitably ‘royal’ colour scheme which will see the street colourful with reds, blues and purple blooms.

Planners have expressed their aim to make the whole street a nicer experience for pedestrians. The pavements will be widened, there will be traffic calming measures installed to reduce speeding vehicles, more zebra crossings, a reduction of the street clutter like disused signs and service boxes and lots more seating and lighting across the whole street.

In a nutshell, here are the six main points that the £46 million project hopes to achieve:

1. Creating a greener street with significantly more new trees and shrubs, improving the environmental and sustainability impact
2. Enhancing the pedestrian experience along Sloane Street
3. Making Sloane Street the number one destination in the world for luxury fashion
4. Refreshing the fabric of the street with high-quality traditional materials, including York stone
5. Enhancing traffic flows for vehicles using Sloane Street and discouraging noisy, speeding cars
6. Upgrading broadband

It is hoped that the improvements will be complete by the end of 2024.