Plants not pollution – Hammersmith Flyover

St. Augustine’s interior

Planters under flyover

2019: First Tom Ryland Award for Conservation – St. Augustine’s

Hammersmith Grove Parklets – East

Hammersmith Grove Parklets – West

Paintbox Studios and Coffeeology

We were pleased to announce our 2019 Awards at the AGM at Olympia on Wednesday 12th June, introduced by committee member Derrick Wright and presented by our President, Prof. Hans Haenlein. The large number of members present were provided excellent hospitality by Olympia in their Apex Room. Full details and a narrative are posted on our 2019 Awards page; the AGM photos and administrative documents are posted on our 2019 AGM page.

Summary

In our 30th year of Awards, we renamed our Conservation Award the Tom Ryland Award for Conservation in honour of our past Chairman. We were delighted to present it for the first time to St. Augustine’s Church in Fulham Palace Road.

There were four Nancye Goulden Awards this year, in two distinct pairs, all are projects which have made positive contributions to the Hammersmith streetscape.

The first two are King Street shop fronts: Paintbox Studios and Coffeeology. The other two awards recognise another type of improvement to the streetscape in the form of the Hammersmith Grove Parklets and The Planting under the Flyover.  The wooden spoon went to phase 1 of Sovereign Court.

We were also given a detailed presentation by SSPARC architects covering the history of Olympia and the extensive redevelopment plans, followed by an update from RSHP architects covering the Town Hall redevelopment plans. In a Q&A session, Councillor Wesley Harcourt kindly gave us an impromptu update on the Hammersmith Bridge situation.

We are delighted to announce that our vice-chair Melanie Whitlock won the 2019 Hammersmith and Fulham Civic Award for “Contributions to art, culture or heritage” on Wednesday 12th June at a ceremony in the Town Hall.  Congratulations and thanks for your many years of tireless work for the Society.

Melanie had already helped setup and attend our AGM earlier the same evening, and hot-footed – or rather hot-biked – across to the Town Hall to receive her award.  Fittingly our AGM marked the 30th year of the Awards, created under her Chairmanship.

Read the story of her two terms as Chairman of the Society as well as many years on the committee in our history, written for the 50th year of the Society in 2012.  

Cllr Harcourt describes Hammersmith Bridge problems

At our AGM on 12th June, members of the audience asked a number of questions about the Bridge.

As we reported in our recent newsletter and over the previous 4 years, the bridge has been in trouble for a long time, not helped by a couple of bomb attacks in its history.

Fortunately Councillor Wesley Harcourt (Cabinet Member for the Environment) was in the audience, and offered us an impromptu update on the works to repair it.  He made it clear that the Council is committed to repairing it as a fully working bridge, and that final decisions on the scope of work are yet to made as they depend on the level of funding available from TfL (who want to run double-decker buses), and the Government.  The two key issues appear to be:

1. The level of structural repair, over and above the minimum required to run the original 7.5 Tonne vehicles, is dependent on the funding available.
2. The funding is not yet all in place (principally Government, which as we know is otherwise distracted)

He described the cracks found, and mentioned the details, photos and videos available on the council website here. He also described the effect on traffic on other bridges and roads, notably Chiswick, Putney and to a lesser extent Wandsworth, plus the apparent disappearance of 25% of the bridge traffic, though that may be variability and measurement error. He noted that more environmentally-friendly electric buses actually weigh more due to the batteries, just to add to the mix.

He committed to the council finalising plans and schedule in August, though we have no idea how long the work might take as yet, due to the many variables, and 3 years remains the disappointing figure quoted. We urge the council to embark on the essential repairs as soon as practicable, notwithstanding Government inertia. The outcome of these discussions can’t be resolved soon enough.

Hammersmith Community Gardens Association is a local charity that has been operating on a site in Ravenscourt Park since 2004.  The existing glasshouse structures have been refurbished twice but are at the end of their life, and existing facilities are limited or inadequate for use in winter.  They are looking to raise £115,000 for new glasshouses, and so far have pledges of £48,000.  The Hammersmith Society recently agreed to make a contribution.

Pledges can be made via https://www.spacehive.com/31651, they need to raise all funds by 12th August to complete the campaign and unlock additional Mayoral and Council funding.  Pledges will not result in money being taken unless the total amount is pledged.

HCGA provides a range of activities from school visits, volunteer gardening sessions for people including refugees and those with health and learning difficulties. Pop up Yoga is held twice weekly, with the glasshouses acting as headquarters for the wider organisation.

The new glasshouse will be configured for maximum use. A large central space that can be used for meetings, concerts & workshops leading out on to the walled garden. To facilitate this vision they have negotiated a 25 year lease on the site, with full planning permission.

More about HCGA, by HCGA

Members of the Committee visited our 30th Annual Award Nominations on Sunday 19th May and shortlisted them. They’re all shown on the nominations page in their categories, with a selection here.

If you would like to comment on them, or make suggestions for winners, please use the comment form on the above page, or on Instagram.

Sovereign Court South

Savoy Circus: Chapter student accommodation

White City Campus: Molecular Sciences building

Planters under flyover

Paintbox Studios and Coffeeology

Maison Samadi

Imperial West residential tower

Saffron – refurbished

Paradise gardens

Hammersmith Grove Parklets – West

Plants-not-pollution under flyover

Dalling Road Open Space, St David’s Day 2019 [Photo: Richard Jackson]

st-augustines-church interior

Award winners will be announced at the AGM at Olympia on 12th June. 

Members, guests, and friends will be warmly welcomed.

2019 Nominations on Instagram

We’re pleased to announce that The Hammersmith Society is now on Instagram.

We’ll post images of our Award Nominations and Winners, as well as other relevant images, aiming to widen our appeal throughout Hammersmith as part of our celebration of 30 years of the Awards.

Our page is here: https://www.instagram.com/hammersmithsoc

Please follow us, and comment on the nominations there or on our nominations page.

Click on the newsletter image to open the pdf 

The Special 20-page Anniversary Newsletter has been published, celebrating 30 years of Hammersmith Society Awards. Printed copies are being distributed to subscribing members.

This year’s Award Nominations are open – winners of Awards and wooden spoons will be announced at the AGM at Olympia on 12th June.  Members and their guests will be warmly welcomed at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. 

Please do nominate your choice – see our awards page to understand the process and the various award categories, and to review/comment on the list of existing nominations which are being added to the website as they come in. Nominations close on 15th May.

It would help us if you can send us a photo with your nomination.