A frame jig inside the Build to Bond prison workshop
Our prison programme

a bike built inside. a bond that goes home.

Build to Bond is a six-week bamboo bike-building course inside prison workshops. Makers learn real manufacturing skills, work towards an OCN Level 2, and finish by handing a bike they built to their own child.
Run it in your prison →email info@bamboobicycleclub.org
for prisons & commissioners

run it in your prison

Self-delivery that fits a prison education budget: we set up the workshop, train your staff and peer instructors, and support every cohort.

talk to us about your site →
for funders & supporters

back the mission

The programme grows site by site with backing from funders and partners. See what support builds — and where it goes next.

support the work →
Inside the workshop

real manufacturing, taught by hand.

We built a new kind of training for prisons. If school felt like failing, this is maths, measurement, design and engineering you can do with your hands, and it ends with something you can hold. Inside a working prison workshop, small cohorts of Makers measure, mitre and bond bamboo frames from raw tubes: the same craft we have taught in our London workshop since 2012.

It is not just bikes. Makers learn design theory, tolerances and jig work, bicycle mechanics, painting and finishing, and how to check their own work against a standard. Every session builds a portfolio of evidence towards an OCN Level 2, assessed as they go.

Three minutes, subtitled. Filmed inside HMP Lowdham Grange by the prison's Inside Media Department. Makers are not identifiable.

Why it works

the bike is for their child. that's the point.

The finished build is a child's balance bike. On family visit day, the Maker hands it over themselves. For many it is the first thing they have ever made, given to the person who matters most.

Ministry of Justice research found prisoners who receive family visits are 39% less likely to reoffend (Lord Farmer Review, 2017). And with just 20% of prison-leavers in work six weeks after release nationally (MoJ, 2024–25), the skills matter as much as the bond. Build to Bond is built on both: real skills, an assessed qualification, and a stronger family bond at the finish line.

How it works

six weeks to a frame. then the bike that goes home.

Eighteen hours a week in the workshop. Every Maker builds a full bamboo frame from raw tubes, then designs and builds the balance bike that goes home with their child.

  1. start with the craft

    Workshop induction, tool discipline and a first small build in bamboo, so nobody touches a frame until the basics are second nature.

    week 1 · induction and first make

  2. learn the bike

    Bicycle theory: geometry, how a frame carries load, what every part does. The week ends with each Maker pitching a bike company of their own.

    week 2 · theory, then a pitch

  3. build the frame

    Three weeks at the jig: measure, mitre, bond and finish a full bamboo frame, quality-checked at every gate, then components fitted and a supervised test ride.

    weeks 3 to 6 · the frame, assessed

  4. the bike that goes home

    The balance-bike course follows: each Maker designs and builds a child's bike, writes its user guide and a personal message, and hands it over on family visit day.

    then · family visit day
the programme

two courses, one progression.

Workshop Skills and Sustainable Manufacturing
course one · six weeks

Workshop Skills and Sustainable Manufacturing

The core course. From raw bamboo to a finished frame: measuring, mitring, bonding, paint and finishing, components and a test ride, with a portfolio assessed against OCN Level 2 (centre course 1130735). 108 contact hours per Maker.

Introduction to Product Design and Manufacture (Bamboo Balance Bike)
course two · the bike that goes home

Introduction to Product Design and Manufacture (Bamboo Balance Bike)

Makers design and build a child's balance bike, write its user guide and a personal message, and present it on family visit day. Opt-in and trauma-informed throughout. OCN Level 2, centre course 1131207.

from Maker to peer mentor
what comes next

from Maker to peer mentor

Makers who finish can help teach the next cohort. More than ten have, alongside the 14 prison staff we have trained to run the workshop themselves.

90%
course completion
BBC programme records
2
OCN London Level 2 courses
Workshop Skills · Balance Bike
26%
measured rise in Maker confidence
BBC programme surveys
4
UK prison sites
at different delivery stages
108
contact hours per Maker, per course
6 weeks × 18 hours
14
prison staff trained as instructors
programme records, September 2026
10+
Makers now peer mentors
programme records, September 2026
2,000
sq ft dedicated workshop at our flagship site
facility records

BBC programme records · updated August 2026

Watching the pride on a father’s face when he presents a bike to his child is something special.

Sally Allsopp, Industries and Community Manager, HMP Lowdham Grange
for your site

how commissioning works.

  1. start a conversation

    We talk through your population, regime and education budget — and you see the programme running.

  2. site visit & security

    Tooling, storage and safe systems of work agreed with your security team. Hand tools only, shadow boards, witnessed end-of-session reconciliation.

  3. set-up & training

    We fit out the workshop, deliver equipment and train your instructors — and the peer mentors who will help run it.

  4. cohorts run

    Your team delivers; we support with check-ins, materials and OCN moderation — invoiced per cohort, from the education budget.

ask us for the full costs, in grant-budget terms →
Where we work

where it runs.

Build to Bond is established across four UK prison sites, at different delivery stages — with a self-delivery model that trains prison staff and peer instructors to run the workshop.

Delivered under direct contracts with HMPPS and private operators

Innovative projects, such as Build to Bond, support rehabilitation and help people leave prison as better citizens, boosting the economy and keeping our streets safe.

Lord Timpson, Prisons Minister — Financial Times, September 2025
recognition
  • Financial Times, 5 September 2025
  • Inside Time, November 2025
  • National Justice Museum, Working Through It exhibition, 2026
  • Investec Beyond Business 2025 winner

Registered UK learning provider (UKPRN 10098630) · courses accredited by OCN London · winner, Investec Beyond Business 2025

case studies

from the workshops.

Every story from the prison programme, in their own words and ours: the flagship site, a new workshop opening, the minister, the press, and the students who redesigned the course.

Bring it to your site

bring build to bond to your prison.

A one-time setup, your staff trained to deliver, and repeatable cohorts that end with a bike going home. Commissioners, funders and education providers — we'd like to talk.

talk to us about your site →email info@bamboobicycleclub.orgback the mission

qualification — OCN Level 2 · Workshop Skills and Sustainable Manufacturing