Oxted – Town Centre

Oxted is a town and civil parish located in Surrey. The business improvement district based there, Oxted BID, faced a particularly unique navigational challenge. Oxted town centre is split by a railway line. In order to cross from one side of the town to the other, you must either use a very small pedestrian underpass, or else circumnavigate by road. 

As a result, both sides are disconnected and have very different offerings to visitors. They found that many people would stay in one side of the town without realising the other was available to explore, or shop within. Nonetheless, Oxted BID sought a wayfinding system that could connect the two and make them feel like a cohesive whole.

We began by completing various stakeholder engagement events and strategies; workshops, a digital survey and several one-on-one meetings. To ensure the wayfinding system’s design was cohesive, we had to engage with all aspects of the town, from businesses, to visitors, to the various local authorities.

Once we had a detailed and multifaceted understanding of the problems faced by the town centre, we completed further research to understand the routes travelling, to, from and through Oxted. 

This was particularly important because pedestrians and vehicles have completely different routes from each other when moving from one side of the town to the other.

There were further wayfinding issues that our audit identified too. Locations and transportation like car parks, bus routes and the train station were poorly signposted. Better signage would need to be designed to better incorporate them into the wayfinding system.

So, with the research phase completed, we formulated a solution that would connect the two sides of the town through a cohesive wayfinding strategy that would all satisfy the needs of different kinds of transportation.

The outcome of the project was the design of a connected signage family for vehicles and for pedestrians.

We designed a range of ADS advanced directional highway signs that would ensure every visitor would know where the town was, where all the parking opportunities were – alleviating the issue of the poor signposting of parking. We also designed a wayfinding map of the town which would primarily be displayed on pedestrian monoliths that can show the map and direct visitors around Oxted.

It was also important that legacy signage, like old cast iron signs, would be used as a legacy reference for the town. Not just as a touchpoint for the design of the new signage family, but to ensure the character, history and culture of Oxted would continue to shine through any changes.

We are currently aiding Oxted BID with a funding application in order to implement this scheme. Helping our clients to get their wayfinding systems installed is an important part of our work, as we recognise that the path to these key navigational aids is not always so straightforward.