The first stage of a £30M plan to create a shared space for pedestrians and vehicles by transforming Exhibition Road in London’s South Kensington has been approved.

Kensington & Chelsea council gave the green light to unravelling the one-way system around South Kensington station at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, and the council has since appointed Balfour Beatty to undertake the £3M contract.

Deputy leader of the council, Daniel Moylan, said: ‘The unravelling of the one-way system is phase one and will transform an area which has been over-dominated by one way traffic. It will turn the area into a village instead of an urban motorway.’

The shared space project will also see the removal of footway kerbs, safety barriers and street signs. It forms part of a wider scheme to improve the South Kensington museum area. Other measures will see a pedestrian tunnel between South Kensington Tube station and the museums opened up, and the pedestrianisation of smaller streets.

Phase one is to begin in the new year and will cost £6M overall – Transport for London is providing £1.75M, with the remainder coming from the council’s budget. The rest of the project will cost a further £25M, with the council providing £7M. It is now looking to mayor Boris Johnson to secure remaining funding. Moylan said: ‘Johnson appears to be very enthusiastic about the scheme but there are no guarantees as we know funding is tight. ‘We are looking at funding from all sources – it is an exciting project and private sources are an option.’