Kidzania Westfield, Shepherd’s Bush, London
KidZania Westfield London is an indoor educational and entertainment centre for children located within the Westfield London shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush, London. The KidZania facility was built on top of the Westfield centre and this project was a traffic study to inform the design of the vertical transportation necessary to access the facility. Completed 2015.
Services
Design consultancy – traffic flow and traffic analaysis
Vertical Transporation
- Two new escalators one new lift
Particular Challenges
With the facility being built above and, accessed from within, the existing shopping Centre, there were several key constraints to work with. These included:
- The volume of guest leaving and arriving in a relatively short period during each changeover slot.
- The length of time it took to book in each group for a new session
- A consequence of the two items above was the necessary queuing area (lobby area) for waiting guest. And there was limited lobby space.
Traffic analysis first identified peak flows during arrival and leaving the facility.
Firstly, it was noted the flows were too great for it to be practical to employ lifts only. Hence, the need for escalators, was determined.
Secondly, the traffic analysis data combined with the booking in time, meant the maximum queue length could be determined. And once this was known the required queuing space. This identified that there was insufficient space at the anticipated location of booking in desks at the upper KidZania lobby level.
It is not possible to prevent people arriving so, a solution was found to break down the booking in time, to include a preliminary booking in at the lower level (in the shopping mall), before traversing the vertical transportation which comprised two escalators and, a single lift for those unable to take the escalator.
Project Team
Client: Westfield/Kindzania
Services Consultant: Cudd Bentley Consulting
