Opinions sought from cycling commuters on workplace facilities for cyclists

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Julia9054

Guru
Location
Knaresborough
I think BREEAM is making a difference, at least for new builds or major refurbishments.

BREEAM is a sustainability standard - companies get a score based on how sustainable their building is. Part of this is down to construction materials and design, and part of it is based on the building facilities. (gross oversimplification - sorry!)

Companies like the kudos of having a building that is scored “Outstanding” or “Excellent” rather than just “Very good” - and achieving high BREEAM may also be a planning requirement.

So what’s that got to do with cycling? Well, you get 1 BREEAM point if you have “sufficient” cycle storage spaces - the numbers vary from sector to sector, but typically at least 1 space for every 10 employees. (or for schools etc, it’s per 10 staff+student).
You also get a second point if you provide at least 2 of Showers/Lockers/Changing/Drying facilities.

https://www.breeam.com/BREEAMUK2014SchemeDocument/content/07_transport/tra03.htm

You also get points for NOT having too many car parking spaces!
This is very interesting - thank you.
We are having some major building works done at school and an email was sent to all staff this week asking how we travel to school. Apparently we need breeam accreditation as part of the planning permission.
Our staff bike sheds are secure and very good but I am looking forward to having a changing room and drying facilities. Currently, the male members of staff have a changing room. I have to get changed in the staff room corridor or a toilet cubicle.
 
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Londonbiker

Regular
warm air pumped through lockers? Ski boot style drying racks for wet shoes?

Sound great btw
Thank you Jay. Will get a spec for these. Appreciate your post.
 

I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
I cycle to work and we have reasonable facilities, but it could be better! After a fast 10 mile ride into work a shower is essential so I have a routine that works like this...

Each time I cycle to work I shower on arrival with a fresh hand-towel and underwear which I take home each day for washing.
On the days when I drive to work I take in a supply of fresh towels & undies and my work clothes (trousers and casual shirts).
I wear a fresh cycle shirt each day but hanging it up when at work to dry out ready for the journey home.

Things that are needed to facilitate this;
  • Showers (obviously!) and changing rooms.
  • Hanging/drying space for wet cycling gear
  • Permanent lockers tall enough for hanging clothes (we used to have lockers that were deep enough to hang shirts in until 2-3yrs ago when the lockers were changed from 2x tall lockers in a stack to 4x square boxes in a stack. I now have to leave my hanging items 'unsecured' in a suit hanger bag.)
  • Decent bike security. I am lucky that my workplace is a reasonably secure site only used by the one company so bike shed security is not crucial. However, on a shared user site some kind of access control to bike sheds is essential. To regulate this and prevent dormant users claiming/clogging up all available spaces there should be a requirement to re-register for access every 6 months. Fail to register and access is curtailed.
A few things have been mentioned that might improve the provision in worthwhile ways.
Laundered towels, like a gym or hotel, would be fantastic.
Secure plug and USB charging points for bike lights and devices.
Maybe a track pump for speedy tyre inflation, but I suspect additional tool provision would be underused and abused?
It's really quite simple and once the basics are covered there is not a lot that really adds great value to the offer. Just make sure the basics are right!
 

Slick

Guru
Thank you Slick. If you could be a ‘member’ that included towels whenever you wanted them, what sort of charge would you be willing to pay Or would be reasonable. Could be a monthly fee or even a pay as you need basis.
Mmm, genuinely not sure what I would pay, at my gym we pay a quid for a towel but for instance, on the odd occasion that I've forgotten my towel, I would pay a lot more to get one. If you aren't looking to make money I reckon you would need to first work out what it would cost to provide the service and as long as I was aware it was not for profit, I would be happy to use it rather than lose it. :okay:
 

Slioch

Guru
Location
York
Good point about drying cabinets so these would need to be managed by staff members rather than free access. Do you think most cyclists would use if available?
Yes.

Mind you, at the scale you seem to be talking about it might be more effective to have a drying room rather than drying cabinets.

I remember my local swimming pool from years back had a system where you placed your clothes in one of these things, handed it over to the attendant who gave you a tag with the corresponding number on, then it was hung up in a secure room and retrieved when you'd finished. A similar system might work in your scenario if the budget stretches to having attendants? Is there going to be a gym as well, in which case the cycling stuff can be incorporated into that?

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Twizit

CS8 lead out specialist
Location
Surrey
Out of all the things mentioned the two that spring out to me as being super helpful:

- permanent lockers so that people don't have to commute with work clothes every day - i.e. just do one run a week with enough clothes / take dirty ones home. Therefore lockers have to be big enough to accommodate.

- drying cupboards. These are great. Had them in the last building I worked in - there were a set in both the gents and ladies changing rooms. Issue was that they weren't big enough and people would leave stuff in them for ages. Plus side is that if there are drying cupboards then you don't need to provide towels each time - people can leave their own - it's also a lot greener than having to launder towels after a single use. Downside is that you need a lot of drying space and you're going to have to find ways of policing it for those that just dump stuff for ages. Biggest issue I've noted over years of cycling in is that there will always be a small minority who cycle v v occasionally but use the work facilities as a storage area for their own crap!

Good luck. Great that you're putting this much effort and thought into it
 
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Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
IME the ideal scenario would be covered bike racks, showers, lockers, ample space to dry clothes. I wouldn't pay for any extra services, but some people might appreciate a small working area with some puncture repair kits/tools for example. I did have to push the bike to work with a flat once, and had no kit on me.

Edit: I might add, the thing that caused most aggro when I cycled to work was people being allocated lockers and then not using them for months/years. Same thing goes for lockers. Maybe a process of checking so that if any towels/clothes/lockers are not used or moved within a set period then they get cleared away into the lost and found bit
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
Another thing that *always* seems to happen (I have no idea why) is that strange people will lock a bike up and never ever come back to it. It's worth having some sort of system in place for reporting / spotting bikes that never move, and a clear policy on how long a bike can be left permanently chained to a bike rack before it gets removed. Sooner or later a chain breaker or disc cutter will be needed.

At my workplace an A4 sign gets stapled around the cross bar. If it is still there after 28 days the bike gets removed. On a site that we rent however, I have seen bikes in the same place for almost 3 years, tyres perished and flat, to the immense annoyance of peope who don't have somewhere to park their bike.
 

Alberto Balsam

Senior Member
Location
Lancashire
Thank you Alberto.
can I ask if there are any specific moans that I could perhaps addressat planning stage.
No, The facilities are fantastic, folk moan about the most irrelevant drivel... the windows don't open, the room's too hot/cold, the benches aren't long enough for more than 5 people to sit on at once etc... It's pathetic really. Most of us are very appreciative.
 

Gekko21

Regular
Where I work, we have basement secure bike parking, a permanent locker and free showers and towels. I reckon if you are serious about promoting cycling that's the bare minimum you should be providing. It's common for people to bring clothes in on Monday for the week and I also need somewhere for toiletries (cleansing, makeup, hair) so a permanent locker is essential. I do have a locker in my office but it's a trek to the lift and then up a few floors so not really practical. We also have a drying room, but I only went in there once. It was rammed with stuff that people had left and never returned for and it stank to high heaven. If my jacket is wet, I'll dry it on the back of my office chair I'm afraid.

I do like the idea above about having lockers with usb sockets for charging lights. We have those in our office lockers and it's really useful. It would be great to have a track pump too, although I carry tools, a pump and a spare tube with me. I'm not sure I care for these things so much though that I'd pay extra. Bike washing / servicing would be worth it though as I keep my bike stashed at a mainline station so rarely have the opportunity to clean / maintain it.

One thing I'd say is ensure the access to the bike racks is reliable. We have two lifts in our building, but one has been out of service for several months. The other has been out of order twice in recent weeks, causing chaos. I've had to carry my bike down several flights of stairs and squeeze it into a small service lift to get it back up again. A guy from another office in our building had to leave his motorbike there the other week because there was no way to get it out :rolleyes:.
 

Alberto Balsam

Senior Member
Location
Lancashire
Just picking up the previous poster's point about the drying room being filled with stuff.... Where I work every now and again a sign goes up saying that on date X (some weeks hence) anything still in there will be binned. That way, abandoned stuff gets binned un-noticed. The rest of us tidy our stuff away into our lockers for the duration. It works very well.
 
Just picking up the previous poster's point about the drying room being filled with stuff.... Where I work every now and again a sign goes up saying that on date X (some weeks hence) anything still in there will be binned. That way, abandoned stuff gets binned un-noticed. The rest of us tidy our stuff away into our lockers for the duration. It works very well.
Our drying room gets cleared out once a month as well. Seems to work out fairly well, most people clear out their stuff so the room can be cleaned.

Only annoying times are when there is a torrential downpour in the morning and the room becomes cluttered with non-cyclists/gym users' drenched coats/umbrellas/bags/shoes etc and absolutely stinks.
 
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