“By creating a selection of permanent green oases across the densest parts of the city the Well-line would bring back a joy which has been lost in the grey of urban design. Critically, nature is not merely a “green wash”, the Well-line re-envisages a new city sustained from below. The line would emerge at street level, delivering goods and services and cleaning the atmosphere.” Laurie Chetwood

The Well-line project started as a winning entry for the Royal Academy of Arts ‘Urban Jigsaw’ ideas competition to develop speculative proposals for brownfield sites and undeveloped spaces across London.

The Well-line addresses London’s increasingly urgent pollution and congestion problems. It will convert the disused underground Post Office Railway – London’s longest brownfield site running for 6 miles from Paddington to Whitechapel – into a new hi-tech logistics supply line.

The line has good connections to other transport infrastructure – air, rail, canal and road – presenting the opportunity to link it to out of town logistics hubs. Consolidated deliveries from multiple logistics companies could reduce the number of goods vehicles in the city centre by 60 percent.

The proposals for the Well-line are continuing to be developed. There is considerable momentum and political will to consider all possible ways of reducing traffic and pollution in central London.

Link to article published in the Evening Standard at the time of the competition.