Falco has always put itself at the forefront of our industry and we have always played a proactive role in developing new ideas and products for cycle parking facilities. Having imported the first cycle shelters from Holland back in the early 1990’s over the last 20 years, our commitment to ‘pushing the frontiers of our industry we are proud to have a number of UK (and world) ‘firsts’ under our belt;

Falco Firsts

• First cycle hub (Leeds City Station)
• Largest cycle hub (Cambridge station 3,000 spaces)
• Second largest hub (Chelmsford)
• Largest network of community cycle hubs (LBWF mini-Holland)
• The first app-based locking hub (Bedford)
• First cargo public bike hangar (Beryl Bikes/Hackney)
• First app-based bike hangar (LBWF)
• First hands-free bike hangar (RBKC)
• Chelmsford first app-based

Key Project Summaries

1. UK's First Cycle Hub at Leeds Cyclepoint Opened by Minister of Transport

On 27th September 2011, the first ‘CyclePoint’ was opened in the UK by the Transport Minister Norman Baker MP at Northern Rail’s Leeds City Station. Northern Rail is joint owned by Serco and Abellio, and it is the influence of its Dutch parent that brings the concept of ‘Fietspunt’ or ‘CyclePoint’ to the UK – an idea already well established on the railway system in the Netherlands. The CyclePoint at Leeds station is based on a hugely successful Dutch concept brought to the UK by Abellio and developed in partnership with Northern Rail, Department for Transport, Metro and Network Rail.

2. The UK’s Largest Cycle Hub at Cambridge Station Officially Opens to the Public Incorporating 3,000 Falco Cycle Parking Spaces!

The UK’s largest cycle hub at Cambridge Station officially opened to commuters on the 27th June 2016, providing up to 3,000 spaces of FalcoLevel Premium two-tier cycle parking spaces over three separate floors. The £2.5m development triples the amount of cycle parking spaces available and is open 24 hours a day and is free of charge to use.

3. Falco Completes UK's Second Largest CyclePoint!

July 2013 saw the opening of the UK’s largest CyclePoint cycle parking hub, with almost 1,000 spaces of mixed use cycle parking. The UK’s hottest day so far saw the The Rt. Hon. Simon Burns MP, Minister of State for Transport and Member of Parliament for Chelmsford officially open Abellio’s (train operator of Greater Anglia) new £680k CyclePoint at Chelmsford station.

4. The Capital's First Network of Community Cycle Hubs

The first two state-of-the-art Cycle Hubs have opened at Walthamstow Central and Leytonstone Stations marking a milestone for cyclists and pedestrians who commute within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. In a ‘first’ for the capital, a network of eight cycle hubs will be installed by 2016 as part of the TfL funded Mini Holland programme which aims to boost the number of cyclists and pedestrians across the whole Borough.

The seventh state-of-the-art cycle hub for the LBWF Mini Holland programme officially opened at St James Street Station in December 2017, providing additional secure cycle parking facilities to commuters within the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

5. Falco Launches UK's First Cycle Hub with FalcoSmart App-based Lock

In April 2021, Bedford Borough Council took delivery of the UK’s first ever cycle hub to feature an app-based locking mechanism. The contemporary designed FalcoHub facility located in the shopping district of Bedford town centre was manufactured and installed by Falco and features the first ever UK application of an app-based locking and booking system.

6. FalcoCargoBox Used in the UK's First e-Cargo Bike Share Scheme

In September last year, Falco designed, manufactured and installed the new e-Cargo bike storage hangars for the UK’s first e-cargo bike share scheme launched this week in Hackney. Operated by Beryl bikes on behalf of Hackney Council, the scheme is the first of its kind in the UK offering public cargo bike hire.

7. Falco Develops the UK's First Keyless Bike Hangar

FalcoSmart Keyless Bike Hangar is the latest development of our FalcoSmart App-based cycle parking system for bike hangars and (cycle hubs) which removes the traditional key based locking system completely, providing hands-free/handle-less entry to any UK bike hangar.

8. Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Rolls-out London's First Keyless Bike Hangars

This week the RBKC, deployed two FalcoPod ‘smart’ bike hangars in their residential network to become the first London Borough to introduce a keyless system. The FalcoPod hangars, designed by Falco, are the UK’s first bike hangar which has no visible lock.

Moving Forwards This Year

We still have some really exciting projects and products due for release in 2022, such as the development of our FalcoSmart roll-out for bike hangar management, some new detection systems as well as new storage products, so stay subscribed and we’ll be releasing some new ideas each month!