Borough Market

A tailor-made knowledge base

Geofutures was commissioned to help London’s historic Borough Market remain open for business during major rebuilding works to the rail viaduct which runs over the top of the market site.

The company created an online Knowledge Base benchmarking existing positions, access and movements of wholesalers, stallholders and customers within and beyond the Market, allowing stakeholders to model the impacts of making temporary changes to the configuration of the Market during the works, currently scheduled from 2009 to 2011.

Network Rail is committed to minimising the impact of the building works on Borough Market, and as part of this undertaking co-funded this information system development.

The application took data from multiple sources including customer and supplier surveys, mapping results and allowing users to redraw the Market’s layout, exporting results for use by planners and the Market’s trustees and allowing them to publish regular public information updates.

Borough Market has been operating on the same site for many centuries, but its contemporary significance is greater than ever. It’s an important focus for business in the local community, a popular tourist destination, and is also a beacon of success in the growing farmers’ markets sector, driving awareness of issues such as food relocalisation and traceability.

Aside from helping manage the impact of the Network Rail works, the Geofutures Knowledge Base also represents a unique information resource about the Market’s place in the food supply chain.