Hammersmith Bridge 2017, © Jane Bain

Members of the Hammersmith Society, Historic Buildings Group and HAMRA committees met the team in charge of the major works planned for Hammersmith Bridge.

Jane Bain of HAMRA delivered an  impressive visual presentation about the effect of surrounding developments on the Bridge silhouette and general loss of visibility over time, using archive photographs (small selection shown below) to support our contention that the paint treatment of the Bridge should be revisited so the Bridge is visible, distinctive and can be fully appreciated in longer views. The agreement of Historic England will be needed to any change in the colour treatment, which may be a challenge.

Hammersmith Bridge 1950 © Hammersmith Archives

Hammersmith Bridge 1964 © Hammersmith Archives

Hammersmith Bridge 1986 © Hammersmith Archives

Hammersmith Bridge 2003 © Jane Bain

The works, which will involve bridge closure, are still scheduled for the end of this year. At the moment studies are still being carried out on the Bridge: stress tests, load assessments, effects of previous repairs. A feasibility report is being prepared on the basis of this information which will give options for the scale of the major repairs: financial viability may not necessarily support TfL’s aspiration to have double-decker buses using the Bridge. 

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Further to my News Update last week, we have received notice that there will be an ‘interim’ report to the Council’s ‘Community Safety, Environment and Residents Service Policy and Accountability Committee’ on Monday 29th January at 7pm.
You can see the Report  here

This Committee is open to all and I strongly recommend you attend if you can. (Unfortunately I shall be away).

The report is completely noncommittal and there appears to be no recognition of the considerable local opposition both in Hammersmith and Chiswick where there are various active anti-CS9 groups and petitions. Continue reading →

Hammersmith Bridge, night – Mariusz Czajkowski

We have been pressing the Council – so far unsuccessfully – for us to be involved in decisions regarding the refurbishment of the bridge which is due to take place later this year.  As you will all be aware, the bridge is in need of strengthening so that it can support the weight of double decker buses and some lorries.

This a joint project between Transport for London and the Council who have responsibility for the maintenance of the bridge. Several short term closures have been necessary for temporary works and we understand further closures are necessary to allow detail survey work to be carried out. There still does not seem to be a formal programme for the main works. For obvious reasons we do not expect to be involved in the technical detail and our main interest is in the lighting and redecoration. Since the last lighting upgrade for which the Hammersmith Society gave its Environment Award in 2000 for the ‘blades of light’ created on each side of the bridge, lighting technology has moved on in leaps and bounds so that the individual incandescent bulbs will almost certainly be replaced by strips of modern LEDs. Continue reading →

There have been no new major site applications. The updated Local Plan originally planned for the Spring will not now be ready until the Summer – and this is thought to be due to the difficulties of reconciling the proposals with the realisation that the huge area of land required for the Crossrail Elizabeth line sidings cannot be built over economically and therefore will radically reduce the area of land available for development.

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The plans for the OPDC area continue to advance despite the many problems, not least the funding of the massive infrastructure which will be necessary. It is a concern that often the thinking is not co-ordinated between the various agencies. Transport for London (TfL) recently consulted on the design of two of the proposed Overground stations at Hythe Road and Old Oak Common Lane but these were isolated from the adjoining proposals for the Elizabeth Crossrail line and HS2 station at Old Oak Common Lane. At present there is no funding for the TfL stations and the designs seem unnecessarily  heavy and clumsy.

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