­­An exciting new addition has arrived at the Tibbalds office: a tiny green bicycle. It’s fantastic, it takes us to meetings in London and provides a new perspective on site visits. While cycling to our colleagues and clients around London, the bike might take us along the river and through parks and gives us extra minutes of the sunshine rather than being stuck in the underground.

Oscar took the bike on a site visit to Devon. He cycled around the countryside for many miles, checking out the views, landscape and villages in our study area. It wasn’t the sunniest day and he did get rained on. But the insights he gained were superb. Everybody has experienced site visits by car - what was that? - nowhere to turn- nowhere to park - and zoom- one has gone past that very important view again.

Another example where the bike has proved useful was to explore Stoke-on-Trent’s waterways. For our Urban Vision and Design Guide for Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme we wanted to see different aspects of the place - and what better way to explore rivers and canals than cycling along the towpath on a sunny day. We came away with a very positive impression of one of Stoke’s greatest assets.

The bike is fabulous, it allows a good pace, it is sustainable (we like to practice what we preach) and it keeps us fit.  Just excuse us if we arrive at meetings a little flushed!