The main barriers to running and cycling to work is the lack of facilities at the end of the journey; 1. Secure bike parking 2. Showers 3. Lockers (Sustrans 2011 survey) The mission of Active-Commuting Ltd is to provide access to; secure bike parking, locker rental, showers and changing rooms for the Active-Commuter wherever he or she works. Our facilities are built using modular construction; they are portable, adaptable, and scalable. There will be a network of these throughout the UK. Our ambition is for facilities to become embedded in the transport infrastructure.

Raise brand awareness, meet CSR objectives, increase environmental and sustainability credentials across various demographics. Be associated with healthy, environmentally conscious, educated, enthusiastic fitness commuters, while being visible to all demographics. People from managerial and professional occupations are more likely to cycle than those from 'intermediate/routine' and 'manual occupations'. Over two thirds of run commuters are aged 30-44. 35% of run commuters and 27% of cycling commuters are women. Another of our ambitions is to even these ratios between sexes.

Sponsors will have their brand and logo on the outside of the units, and could advertise inside. The first site will have four units in total, double stacked, situated prominently in the car park. Each unit is 24ft x 10ft, though we can build as large as 40ft x 10ft. The units fit together a bit like Lego. There are other incentives; vending, sales, and experiential for certain types of companies to take part. Joint PR with nationwide publicity; as we have a Govt innovation agency, a sustainable charity, and transport authorities taking an active interest in our project.

This is a new concept. Though the facilities are for cycling and running active-commuters; we see a wide variety of companies who could be involved. The most obvious would be sports brands, shops and cycling companies. However health insurance, cosmetic/toiletry, health food, technology (wayfinding/GPS, performance measuring, security and digital platform suppliers), infrastructure, cycle dock manufacturing and companies who endorse; a healthy, sporty, outside lifestyle aspiration. Units could be wrapped to represent a particular product as well as the brand and logo.

We will gather data on the following; what is the increase in cycling/running to work? does it reduce users absences, stress, weight? how significant are seasonal and weather factors? what distances are people prepared to travel? what is the ratio of cyclists to runners? what other services can be incorporated? how much time is saved commuting this way? what else can be offered to encourage more participation? can employee benefits be used to incentivise? The information gathered will be used to build a theoretical model; to identify and develop future sites and products.