The Means has been commissioned by Lambeth Council to scope a possible Business Improvement District (BID) in Vauxhall.

The project, which kicked off just before Christmas '08, principally involves a financial feasibility study together with a consultation event with local businesses.

Means' team members Giles Semper and Peter Williams are both 'veterans' of Vauxhall, having first worked together there in the late 90s (read more here !).

Says Giles: 'Vauxhall might seem a strange place with which to have a romance, given its notorious traffic junction. But when I ran the Heritage Centre there I discovered just what a pivotal place it was in London's history, at several different points. I found the story of the Pleasure Gardens particularly compelling, to the extent that, when Miranda and I were married in St Peter's Church, Kennington Lane, in 2000, we adopted it as our theme!'

'The history of business involvement in the regeneration of Vauxhall is long. The "Crossing the Line" project in the 90s was one of the few private sector-led Single Regeneration Budget schemes in the country and it did make a difference. Now Lambeth is open to the possibility that a Business Improvement District could move things on again.'