Six-week training for people in prison: OCN London bespoke Level 2, Workshop Skills and Sustainable Manufacturing. Build to Bond is the separate two-week balance-bike course.
Four prison workshops running.
90%+ completion across the prison programme.
BBC programme records.
Commissioned by prisons through the DPS and their own purchase orders.
Discuss your prison programmeWe're a Community Interest Company with a bike shop attached, not a charity with a gift shop.
Bamboo Mobility Project CIC · 16257348: programmes, education and community delivery. Bamboo Bicycle Club London Ltd · 10809302: the workshop, kits and designs.
People in prison learn through making: measuring bamboo, working at a jig, bonding and finishing a frame. The six-week training is Workshop Skills and Sustainable Manufacturing.
The separate two-week Build to Bond programme uses Introduction to Product Design & Manufacture (Bamboo Balance Bike). Both are OCN London bespoke Level 2 courses, assessed to their approved specifications. They are not Ofqual-regulated.
Three minutes, subtitled. Filmed inside HMP Lowdham Grange by the prison's Inside Media Department. Makers are not identifiable.
This film records earlier delivery. Lord Timpson was Prisons Minister from 2024 to 2026.
Family connection is part of the purpose of Build to Bond. The balance-bike build gives people in prison a practical project to talk about with their family.
People in prison who received social visits were significantly less likely to reoffend within a year of release: 25% compared with 28% (Ministry of Justice and Lord Timpson, March 2026, matched analysis). This is external research, not a measured BBC reoffending outcome.
The six-week training and two-week Build to Bond are separate programmes. Agree the course and delivery plan for your site.
Workshop induction, tool discipline and practical work in bamboo.
Bicycle theory, geometry and design: connect the practical work to how a frame is made.
Measure, mitre, bond and finish a bamboo frame. Build a portfolio for assessment against the approved course specification.
The separate two-week programme: Introduction to Product Design & Manufacture (Bamboo Balance Bike), OCN London bespoke Level 2, centre course ID 1131207.
OCN London bespoke Level 2, centre course ID 1130735. 108 contact hours per person on the six-week course. The approved course specification records 120 guided learning hours (GLH) and 192 hours total qualification time (TQT).
OCN London bespoke Level 2, centre course ID 1131207. A separate balance-bike build course. Both courses are bespoke and are not Ofqual-regulated.
10+ people in prison have become peer mentors. Across the four sites, 14 prison staff have been trained as instructors. Peer mentors: James Marr’s count, September 2026. Staff: programme records, September 2026.
Completion is across the prison programme; confidence is from BBC programme evaluation. Staff and peer counts: September 2026. Workshop count: James Marr, 28 September 2026. The workshop area is for the flagship site only.
The bamboo bike course offers more than just technical training – it provides an avenue for creativity, teamwork, and self-expression.
Sally Allsopp, Industries Manager, HMP Lowdham Grange · Inside Time, 17 November 2025Tell us about your site, the people you want to reach and your aims for the programme.
Plan site-specific risk assessments and safe systems of work with your team. Learner work uses hand tools only. Agree tool control with the establishment.
Choose the six-week training or the two-week Build to Bond course. Agree staff training, assessment arrangements and a delivery plan.
Commissioned by prisons through the DPS and their own purchase orders. Confirm the scope and commissioning arrangements for your site.
Four prison workshops running: HMP Lowdham Grange, HMP Lindholme, HMP Northumberland and HMP Foston Hall.
Workshop count confirmed by James Marr, 28 September 2026.
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 OBE, Prisons Minister 2024–2026 · Financial Times, 5 September 2025Two OCN London bespoke Level 2 courses: 1130735 and 1131207. Neither is Ofqual-regulated.
Published coverage of the prison programme and Lord Timpson’s endorsement while he was Prisons Minister.
prisonsThe Financial Times featured BBC’s prison education work at HMP Lowdham Grange on 5 September 2025.
5 September 2025
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prisonsInside Time published Bamboozling way to build bikes on 17 November 2025.
17 November 2025
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prisonsLord Timpson publicly endorsed the programme while he was Prisons Minister (2024–2026).
Prisons Minister 2024–2026
read the story
For governors, heads of reducing reoffending and funders. Tell us your site, the people you want to reach and your delivery aims. We can discuss the course, site requirements and commissioning route.
OCN London bespoke Level 2 · Workshop Skills and Sustainable Manufacturing (1130735)