Phoenix elevations existing and proposed

The Hammersmith Society’s committee was pleased to see the Council’s Planning Committee turn down the Phoenix Academy/London Square application for a combined educational and residential development at Phoenix Academy, which was of considerable concern to local people. Residents’ associations, with whom we’d been in contact, had raised a formidable campaign.

The planning application is here: 2025/02541/FUL and earlier scoping is 2024/03003/SCOEIA. The application is registered in the planning portal as ‘under assessment’, and provided the above image, demonstrating the inappropriate scale of the proposal. There’s also a consultation website.

We are waiting to hear whether the refused application is going to be called in for review by the Mayor at City Hall.

We recognise that the school wishes to update and improve its facilities but the proposed way of funding these is not acceptable.

The proposed residential development is too high and has an unacceptable visual impact on the Conservation Area. The majority of the existing housing in the immediate area is 2 storied terraced houses. We believe the blocks should be no higher than 4 stories, especially adjacent to existing 2 storey houses.

Phoenix site – existing view

In the refused scheme 4 to 6 story residential blocks step back from West to East. The apartments on this West side would cause an unacceptable impact on the residential amenity (overlooking into back gardens) of the houses on Milfoil St and Sundew Ave. There is also impact on the residential amenity of the buildings to the north of the site. Slightly taller blocks in the centre of the site could be acceptable subject to ensuring that they are not over-imposing on the amenity of the existing residential properties due to their proximity to the boundary.

The proposals also included apartments overlooking the school grounds which is unacceptable. . There are of course existing schools in tight urban areas which have views into their sites, but this certainly should not be allowed in new developments because of safeguarding concerns.

Nomination for a Tom Ryland Award for Conservation, 2026.

Margravine Cemetery Wall at the top end of Margravine Gardens, is opposite the Grade II listed station.  Nominated by a resident who says: “The wall is on a slope and on a curve, and is over 26m long and on the street 2-3m high above pavement, while in the cemetery it varies between over 4m high to 2m high above ground level. We, Friends of Margavine Cemetery, noticed it was cracking at the top and leaning out in 2024, and notified the council, who then fenced off the footway in front. We persuaded them to get the advice of the conservation engineer, advising on the listed Building at Risk structures in the cemetery. The council agreed to have contractors take down the wall by hand and then rebuild it in lime mortar, reusing saved bricks and matching new bricks. The works of demolition took place in Spring 2025, and the wall was rebuilt in July-September 2025. To most people the wall now looks as it did before which is a great credit to all concerned.

Before and during repair

Margravine Cemetery wall before with lean

Margravine Cemetery Wall under repair

Wall repaired

Margravine Cemetery Wall repaired

Members, Mayor, Winners and Rupa Huq MP

Outgoing chair Richard Farthing

Vice-chairman Richard Winterton introduces the awards

Hywel Pratley with the Mayor and Andy Slaughter MP

Richard Farthing with the Mayor

Richard Farthing opens the AGM

New Timber Yard Award Winners: Orla Murray of Thackeray Estates, Sam Langtree & Fiona of Frost Architects

Hywel Pratley with Rupa Huq and committee

Matt Hedges answers questions

Rupa Huq MP

Afsaneh Sladen of HCGA with new chairman, Angela Clarke MBE

Guest Speaker Hywel Pratley with his sculpture

(AGM Photos: Anne Farthing. Click for larger versions)

Award winners 2025

Making up for last year’s dearth of Environment Award nominations, this year we had two excellent nominations, and both worthy winners of our top award: the New Timber Yard off King St., and MacFarlane Place on Wood Lane.

In the smaller project catagory for our Nancye Goulden Award, we’ve seen a number of nominations and winners for Streetscape improvements in recent years. This year it was the turn of the new rain gardens in King Street, partly paid for by the council’s Green Investment Fund, and installed by the Hammersmith Community Gardens Association.  We were particularly pleased to see natural materials replacing the ugly asphalt in the tree pits adjacent, something we’ve long campaigned for, and indeed awarded wooden spoons to the council for, in four of the last twelve years.

There were two Wooden Spoon nominations this year, for the generally dilapidated condition of Uxbridge Road, and the inappropriate redevelopment of The Hampsire Hog, to become The Hammersmith Belle. The committee felt that there was an insufficiently clear target for the many issues in Uxbridge road, but that failing to react to the recent proposals of the ‘Fix the Uxbridge Road’ campaign group, could result in a wooden spoon for the council next year.  The Hammersmith Belle was a popular ‘winner’ however. Further details and photos are on the 2025 awards page.

Hammersmith Society Annual Report 2024-2025
Click on the image to open the pdf

Attached is this year’s Annual Report, reviewing the key activities of the Society, and at least three local megaprojects, this year also providing a reflection on the outgoing chairman’s three year term.

Subjects include:

• The changing face of Hammersmith
• Projects in development 
• Local Plan
• Hammersmith Bridge
• Committee members
• Reflections on Chairmanship 2022-2025

The agenda, accounts and other AGM information are or will be on the dedicated 2025 AGM page.

Our member Edward Rose has thoroughly researched the Black Bull, which we wrote about in 2022, and has now written the 180-page self-published book pictured, which he’s offering to members.

Since we wrote the original article, we’ve been working with Heritage of London Trust to try to find a suitable new home, and arrange for it to be restored, in a similar way to the Greek Runner and Leaning Woman.  We’ve been jointly investigating the somewhat opaque ownership of this Grade II listed figure as a precursor, work which continues. 

If you would like a copy of the book, please contact Edward using the form below.

Nomination for a Tom Ryland Award for Conservation, 2025.

The Hawthorn

Nominated by a member who says:  “The Hawthorn is on the corner of Thorpebank Rd and the Uxbridge Rd in Shepherds Bush. The pub was first built in 1878 and was taken over earlier this year by Peter Creed and Tom Noest of Publican Pubs  They also run five pubs in the Cotswolds and are well established in the hospitality industry.

They have completely renovated this lovely building, both inside and out. With new sash windows, signage and a traditional coloured paintwork, the building has been give a stylish and very welcome overhaul, and is vastly improved compared to the previous pub. The Inside is cosy and welcoming with butter coloured walls and a newly built bar…They have chosen a really great name, with a historical reference, as their Instagram post explains“

Nomination for a Wooden Spoon, 2025.

The Uxbridge road at its Shepherds Bush end has struggled for some years, and has been nominated for a wooden spoon in a number of respects this year, and by several people. There has been a significant amount of public interest and debate with the council, most recently a petition was put to the council to “Fix the Uxbridge Road”, and there’s been a proposal for a Business Improvement District for Shepherds Bush too. 

The list of issues are:

• Inappropriate retail frontages, often a downgrade on the former and perhaps more traditional frontages – a common problem nowadays throughout the borough – and one that we, and our members have campaigned for enforcement on for several years, as these developments often run contrary to the Local Plan.
• The state of the railway bridge, including its graffiti.
• Anti-Social behaviour.
• Problems with waste management – sacks of uncollected rubbish, often generated by retailers.

The council has agreed to take some actions as a result, detailed in the above cabinet report with petition details and here, and TfL are reported to have agreed to repaint the bridge.

Uxbridge road and environs. The two left-bottom images show predecessors to current frontages

Lawn House CGI

Lawn House stands on the corner of The Lawn and Uxbridge Road, next to 2023’s award-winning Hoxton Hotel, partly shown. Previously a Barclays Bank and now vacant, it provides the opportunity to complete The Lawn’s decade-long transformation into a series of hotels with improved public realm. This hotel is proposed to contain 130 rooms, 60% with kitchenettes.

A significant feature of the public realm are the arches of the proposed building’s frontage, said to echo the railway arches nearby, alongside the 2017 conservation award-winning Bush Theatre. These could divide opinion, perhaps considered as sitting uncomfortably with the uniform warehouse chic of the Hoxton adjacent, or acting as a pastiche of the Dorsett’s heroic arches and roofline – let us know your views. For reference, below is a photo of the existing building, showing the adjacent part of the Hoxton with its awnings. 

The design has considered the adjacency and daylight/sunlight issues with residents in Pennard Road directly behind, and the developers, Lamington Group, have been in discussion with them for some time. 

Lawn House – as existing

Environment Award Winner, 2025.

Finely detailed brickwork is the feature in this new development on the corner of Macfarlane Road and Wood Lane opposite Westfield, designed by Maccreanor Lavington for Peabody Housing Association. It replaces the former BBC car park with a pair of appropriately-sized mid-rise buildings, providing 142 affordable homes in a mixture of shared ownership, London Affordable Rent and London Living Rent with 68 x 1 bed, 67 x 2 bed and 7 x 3-bed flats.

Macfarlane Place – H&C railway line – Westfield Living in the distance, TV centre tower under construction left

Macfarlane Place for Peabody Housing Association

Macfarlane Place – Wood Lane & public realm

Macfarlane Place – railway line

Macfarlane Place for Peabody Housing Association

Macfarlane Place – entrance

Macfarlane Place – brickwork shutters railings

Macfarlane Road – public realm

There are some echoes of the ‘warehouse chic’ of the 2023 award-winning Hoxton hotel just down the road, plus an echo of the red brick DIMCO buildings on the other side of Wood Lane, which were themselves nominated in 2021.

The use of materials is interesting, and although there is some fakery to the brickwork (common these days), the patterns are original, and the floor to ceiling windows and detailing lift the facades above the ordinary allowing it to not shout ‘social housing’.  Care has been used in the design, and as the RIBA journal notes, it has tenant-friendly touches such as heat-regulating shutters.  The shutters are said to have been designed to reduce overheating, eliminating the need for air conditioning and opening windows onto a potentially noisy Wood Lane, and the Hammersmith & City railway line immediately adjacent. There’s some interesting detailing internally too.  There are a few more photos on our Instagram

Environment Award Winner, 2025.

Hidden away down a tiny lane known as Dimes Place just off King Street, is a new commercial development known as The New Timber Yard, because it was formerly the home of Moss Timber Merchants (by Royal Appointment, specialist Timber Merchant).  Having been established for over a hundred years, they moved out to Greenford around 2016, and for a couple of years Dimes Place appeared regularly on our agenda for various reasons, including a change of developer, changes and densification of design, according to the Chairman’s annual report. The site has a lot of adjacency with neighbours all around as the photos show, and the site is somewhat Tardis-like, in that what you see from the street is very much less than the whole.

The New Timber Yard – Dimes Place

The New Timber Yard – Dimes Place

The New Timber Yard – Dimes Place

The New Timber Yard – Argyle Place

The New Timber Yard

The New Timber Yard – shared courtyard with external kitchen

The New Timber Yard

The New Timber Yard – logo

The New Timber Yard – reception

New Timber Yard – Cambridge grove

However, the end result it’s a world away from the hustle and noise of King Street, with attractive planting down the former roadway, taking you to a not insubstantial 200sqm office development, built to BREEAM ‘excellent’ standards, with a welcoming reception area.  Tucked away past the shared courtyard with pizza oven and BBQ are further offices, which were – according to the planning portal – originally intended as mews houses, where the former woodsheds were located between the backs of the houses in Cambridge Grove and Argyle Place.  There are a few more photos on our Instagram

This is what the site used to look like (click for larger images):

Moss Hammersmith
[Photo: Moss & co]

Moss Hammersmith
[Photo: Moss & co]

Dimes Place (planning)