For several months we had reported the impending Appeal of the 2015 proposals for the site by the developer Romulus. Just before the public hearing, the Inquiry was postponed by the Inspector ‘for personal reasons’. No new date has so far been offered. In the meantime, the developers and their architects, Allies and Morrison have prepared a new proposal which although very similar in appearance to the Appeal scheme has been reduced in size to overcome some of the principal objections both from the Council and local groups.

The controversial scheme which has taken up a lot of our time this Spring has now been approved by the Council’s Planning Committee on a 4:2 vote after a long discussion. This is for the revised scheme of 22 storeys reduced from the original 28 storeys.

We were concerned that this scheme which could provide a precedent for taller buildings in the Town Centre should not be approved ahead of the final Town Centre Masterplan. Nevertheless the final scheme by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour for Eastern and Oriental Properties should be a fine building and a credit to Hammersmith.

I have mentioned Landmark House and of course the Town Centre Masterplanning in previous News Updates.

These two have now been brought into sharp focus with the planning application now submitted for Landmark House. (Click on this link to access the application : Then scroll down through the list of documents : The ‘Design and Access’ files give the best overall view of this very significant scheme : Click the ‘view’ symbol to open specific files).

Your committee have discussed these proposals twice based upon the November exhibition, which was not widely publicised. We also wrote to the Council’s Head of Planning and Development in January and our initial letter of comment is attached. The HamSoc committee are broadly supportive but with concerns re the height. The latest proposals (forming the planning application) differ in certain ways that improve the ground floor arrangements around the lowest of the three blocks but have also added two floors to the highest increasing the overall number of floors from 26 to 28 storeys.

Our Committee will be reviewing and commenting on the latest proposals but we would really appreciate any comment from members on this scheme. Please send any comments to me before our meeting on 20th February. If you also wish to comment directly to the Planning Department, follow the instructions on the website. Closing date for comments to the Council is 28th February.

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