Bath tenders for £1.5m street furniture and wayfinding briefs

Consultancies are currently being brought on to two shortlists, for projects worth a total of £1.5m, to create a wayfinding system and street furniture in Bath.

One of the tenders, worth £1m, is seeking a consultancy to provide a multi-modal wayfinding system for the city, including information planning, graphic and information design, cartography and product design.

The second, worth £500 000, is seeking designs for street furniture and wayfinding.

Up to five consultancies are competing for the second tender, and at least one group has been accepted on to the shortlist for both.

A spokesman for one group competing for the wayfinding contract says, ‘Considering Bath’s proximity to Bristol, which installed a wayfinding system ten years ago, it is a welcome development that Bath is tackling this issue. Bath was built as a walking city, and it is now hoping to recreate that for the 21st century.’

He reports that the street furniture element will include benches, litter bins, bus shelters, and ‘everything across the street furniture spectrum’.

Wayfinding consultancy City ID has just completed a report, Creating the Canvas for Public Life in Bath, for the council. This recommends the introduction of ‘a new bespoke range of street furniture and pedestrian wayfinding products’.

A council spokesman tells Design Week that the winning group or groups will be announced in February.