Programme records · updated September 2026
One craft, taught the same way in a classroom, a youth hub or a prison workshop. What changes is who walks in — and what they walk out with.
Tools in hand from the first hour. A real frame, built start to finish — measure, mitre, wrap, bond.
input · 108 contact hours per Maker, per courseMeasuring, tolerances, materials, finishing. Inside prison, an OCN London Level 2 course; in schools, the same standard.
output · bikes built, courses completedA finished bike is proof you can finish things. We measure it: confidence rose 26% across evaluated prison cohorts.
outcome · end-of-course surveysRoutes into work and further learning; inside prison, a bike that goes home to a child. More than ten Makers have become peer mentors.
impact · what happens next
Delivered with schools, colleges and universities across the UK.
Delivered with Project Zero in Waltham Forest; piloted with Camden.
Established across four UK prison sites, at different delivery stages. Two OCN London Level 2 courses, run by the prison staff we train.
vocational skills and pathways built through hands-on engineering
hands-on engineering and STEAM learning
prisonsHow a six-week bamboo-bike course is rebuilding family ties inside HMP Lowdham Grange. Running — and oversubscribed — since late 2024.
Build to Bond · HMP Lowdham Grange
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educationOver three consecutive years, UCL Mechanical Engineering Masters students partnered with BBC to build increasingly ambitious bamboo bicycles…
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communityPrevention work through practical making — a five-step ladder for youth settings, from free taster talks to accredited balance-bike builds and enterprise skills. Delivered with Project Zero and Waltham Forest College; piloted with Camden.
Community & Councils
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globalBBC spent time in Kenya teaching community members to build bamboo bicycles.
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communityHospitality Partnership | London | 2018–2020 BBC taught Hilton Bankside staff to build bamboo bikes — bikes that then became part of the hotel's…
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prisonsInside the oversubscribed bamboo-bike programme at HMP Lowdham Grange — the workshop, the Makers, and the balance bikes that go home. As covered by the Financial Times and Inside Time.
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educationAn impact case study from our Project Zero workshop in Waltham Forest: 27 young people built bamboo bikes, with ratings that regularly reached 9–10/10, and grew in…
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globalA Kenyan innovator featured on NTV’s Earthwise Mtaani is building bamboo bikes in Nairobi as climate action — and he learned the craft with us in…
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communityA global advertising group's Zurich office spent a half-day team event building bamboo frames as part of its giving-back programme — booked, built and invoiced in September 2022.
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prisonsThe context In November 2025, the national prison newspaper Inside Time ran a feature on Bamboo Bicycle Club's work at HMP Lowdham Grange , a…
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communityWe headed to Camden with Camden Council and the Euston Skills Centre for a hands-on day of bamboo, balance bikes and business plans — teamwork…
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globalAt the Bamboo Bicycle Club, our mission extends beyond crafting unique bicycles.
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communityThis summer, Jock is cycling over 3,000km from London to Bergen in memory of his close friend Joe, who tragically took his own life in 2022.
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prisonsIn September 2025, the Financial Times featured our prison rehabilitation programme — the moment our work building bamboo bikes inside prisons…
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educationIndependent School Programme | Surrey | 2019 In 2019, students at Reeds School in Surrey built four bamboo bicycles as part of a BBC school programme…
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globalInternational Partnership | Birmingham | July 2022 In July 2022, BBC attended the Image Bamboo Festival in Birmingham and collaborated with Ghana…
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communityBamboo Bicycle Club joins London Design Festival, offering a hands-on Introduction to Bamboo Workshop.
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prisonsBamboo Bike Building: Transforming Lives at Lowdham Grange Prison HMP Lowdham Grange has partnered with Bamboo Bicycle Club to launch an innovative…
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educationSchool Education Partnership | London | 2016 In 2016, students at Southbank University Technical College built six bamboo bicycles under the guidance…
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globalEnvironmental Expedition | Colombia → Ushuaia | 2016–2018 When Kate Rawles set out to cycle from Colombia to the southern tip of South America, she…
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communityIn 2024, a Bamboo Bicycle Club bamboo bicycle was shown in "Match, Design Sport — A Story Looking to the Future" , an exhibition curated by the…
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prisonsThe Minister Who Said Yes James Timpson is not a typical prisons minister.
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educationBamboo Bicycle Club has partnered with Southbank University to establish a dedicated workshop space on campus, promoting sustainable design and…
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globalAdventure Expedition | South America | 2018 In July 2018, two riders completed across South America across 6 countries, finishing in Cartagena, Colombia…
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communityWALLPAPER* March 2024 | by Anna Sansom | Design Interiors “It would be true to say that sport was my first design teacher.
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prisonsInvestec’s published award rationale singled out the excluded-learners model.
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educationWhen a design teacher decides the best way to learn about sustainable materials is to build a real bicycle from cane, the workshop stops being a…
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globalAn estimated 100 million people globally need a wheelchair and don't have one.
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communityA corporate team built bamboo balance bikes at BBC's workshop.
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globalCharity Expedition | UK → Singapore | 2014 In 2014, two doctors built BBC bamboo bikes and cycled from the UK to Singapore to raise money for…
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communitySoraya came to build a bamboo bike for a zero-waste expedition.
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educationPeople often ask the same question before they build with bamboo: will it actually hold up?
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communityFrancisco Torreblanca — franciscotorreblanca.es 4 December 2019 | Spain | Marketing, Innovation Sustainability “Con el tiempo, esta interesante y…
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educationDigital Education Series | YouTube | 2021 During 2021, Bamboo Bicycle Club ran a live weekly education series on YouTube called Workshop Wednesdays…
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globalInternational Schools Programme | Netherlands | December 2017 In December 2017, pupils at a school in The Hague, Netherlands built seven bamboo…
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communityJon built a full bamboo road frame at home from a kit, with the use of one hand. In his words: ‘The end product has a great sense of achievement.’
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educationThe Colleague Who Wouldn't Stop Talking About Their Bike Somewhere in Aston Martin's engineering offices, a conversation happened.
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as reported in Financial Times · Inside Time · Investec Beyond Business
168 verified case studies on file — these are a selection. Figures come from BBC programme records and end-of-course surveys, dated at source.
“Going to the workshop was hands-down one of the best things I have ever done.”
“Pandas eat it. Schoolchildren used to be caned with it. But now prisoners at Lowdham Grange have found a surprising new use for bamboo — making bicycles out of it.”
“Bamboo bikes have that cool factor that excites them. There's maths and English in the programme — but it's built into design, creativity and bike mechanics.”
Innovative projects such as Build to Bond support rehabilitation and help people leave prison as better citizens.
Lord Timpson, Prisons Minister — Financial Times, September 2025
Finding employment after release reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, which is why we are improving opportunities to help prisoners turn their lives around.
Lord Timpson, Prisons Minister — Inside Time, November 2025
Completion and confidence figures come from our own programme records and end-of-course surveys, dated at source. We don't publish return-on-investment figures or claim a reoffending outcome of our own; the Ministry of Justice research above is quoted as context, not as our result. Cohort sizes and site names change as programmes mobilise, so we count sites, not cohorts. We do not yet track what happens after release, we publish no carbon figure until a life-cycle assessment exists, and the CIC's first accounts are due in November 2026.
Bamboo Mobility Project CIC — a community interest company, not a registered charity. Registered UK learning provider, UKPRN 10098630, delivering two OCN London bespoke Level 2 courses. Activity since 2012; the CIC was incorporated in 2025. Workshops in London, Amersfoort, Toulouse and Brighton.
Press and researchers: interviews, images and a workshop visit on request — info@bamboobicycleclub.org. GCN built and reviewed one on camera; you are welcome to.
2025 winner · £24,000
Pedal Forward · £18,000
Community Wealth Building pledge grant · 2022
Bespoke Level 2 — Workshop Skills and Sustainable Manufacturing · Introduction to Product Design & Manufacture (Bamboo Balance Bike) · UKPRN 10098630
Programmes run under direct contracts with HMPPS and private operators
Three employability workshops delivered together, 2025–26 — including an applied psychology session for Aston University undergraduates
youth enterprise pilot · 2026
A balance bike built at HMP Lowdham Grange is on public display in 'Working Through It' (2026)
