Notting Hill Carnival Strategic Review - Intelligent Space

ecommendation called for a re-evaluation of the routing and physical design of Carnival, both
to improve crowd safety and to establish an objective and informed Carnival safety planning
process.
The Carnival Public Safety Project
2.56 In April 2001, the GLA established the Notting Hill Carnival Public Safety Project in response
to recommendation 4(c) of the Carnival Review Group’s Interim Report. The Project sought to
investigate and provide answers to the following key questions:
• what is the pattern of crowd build-up at Carnival and what are the major associated
risks?
• how does the physical design of the Carnival route relate to crowding patterns?
• what design guidance recommendations can be used to evaluate alternative routes?
• what are the likely effects will alternative route options have on crowd safety?
2.57 By making use of new technologies such as computer modelling and simulation in the areas of
spatial design, crowd analysis and movement, the Project offered an evidence-based approach
to ascertaining and addressing the public safety implications of the Carnival area in Notting
Hill and the processional route. The GLA appointed the Intelligent Space Partnership (ISP), a
planning consultancy specialising in pedestrian movement and safety issues, to carry out the
Project:
• undertaking a detailed liaison process with the stakeholders of Carnival, so as to
ensure that their experience and decision-making processes informed the Project;
• providing an analysis of crowd behaviour at Carnival 2001, identifying those factors
involved in crowd build-up and the major risks associated with this;
• developing a set of design guidance recommendations for crowd safety that could be
used to inform the choice of a future Carnival route;
• assessing a shortlist of alternative routes identified by Carnival stakeholders in terms
of their compliance with the design guidance, and to use crowd modelling and risk
assessment to evaluate the potential effects of these routes on crowd safety; and
• making recommendations about the problems and merits of each route.
2.58 The remit of the Project was specifically limited to public safety issues and did not encompass
any review of non-safety issues such as funding, logistics or management structures. A
detailed liaison plan, which included over twenty diverse ‘stakeholders’ and interest groups
involved in Carnival was implemented. Stakeholders provided both data and experience at key
stages of the Project. They were responsible for submitting alternative route options for
assessment and used the design guidance and analysis to inform their decision making process
when making their final selection of short listed routes which went forward for full risk
assessment.
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