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The university-led project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½ and Hove City Council’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund.

The hangar was formally presented (9 Sept) to the Ditchling Rise Area Residents Association which will manage the facility.

The hangar, on the corner of Ditchling Rise and Shaftesbury Road, is part of the university's  'smart e-bikes' research project which is trialling and researching electrically-assisted cycles.

The smart e-bikes research project, led by the University of Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½ between 2011 and 2014, is also funded by the EPSRC and aims to understand how people engage with smart e-cycling and the issues for policy, design/product development and research that could lead to a higher uptake of e-bikes in the UK, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions.

The new Bikehangar in the Ditchling Rise area of Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½, with one of the project's 'smart e-bikes'.

Left to right: Abby Hone, Principal Transport Planner with Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½ & Hove City Council; Frauke Behrendt, Project Leader, Smart e-bikes Research Project, University of Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½; and Chris Sevink, Chair of the Ditchling Rise Area Residents Association.

Dr Frauke Behrendt, senior lecturer and leading the project at the university, said: “This trial enabled us to understand how the combination of an e-bike and sheltered cycle storage might encourage more people to take up cycling.

"The Bikehangar is of particular importance to those who do not have space to park their bike in or outside their own homes.”

The new hangar has six spaces available for rent by nearby residents.