Nomination for an Environment Award, 2026.

Although we’re heard a range of opinion, there’s a lot to like in the total refurbishment of Olympia, now complete and open, aside from the theatre, due in 2027. A mixture of well restored and cleaned existing exteriors of the exhibition halls, conversion of the car-park into a Hyatt Regency hotel and Wetherby Pembridge school, and new interior roof build for restaurants and offices, a substantial music venue, plus good planting. The only disappointments might be the roof extensions facing Hammersmith Road which have been commented on as being overbearing.

The project started in late 2017, and we have several articles reporting on the planning process, and with photographic records throughout the build.

Click for full-size images

Olympia tube station

Olympia restored statue of Demeter, Greek goddess of agriculture

Olympia stairs to Hammersmith Road

Olympia Stairs to Emberton Walk

Olympia Emberton Walk screen

Olympia Hyatt Regency Hotel

Olympia Hammersmith Road

Olympia ICC Entrance

Olympia Lift button

Olympia Escalaors to Emberton Walk

Olympia Emberton Walk

Olympia British Airways ARC music venue

Olympia Wetherby Pembridge School

Olympia Wetherby Pembridge School

There are a few more photos on our Instagram

Nomination for a Nancye Goulden Award, 2026.

We received several nominations for the Town Hall redevelopment, these are split – generally positive towards the opening up and refurbishment of the GII listed Town Hall itself and its new piazza, but rather less so of the RSHP-devised scheme around it.

This nomination is specifically for the landscaping by Gillespies in the piazza and around the residential blocks, which is sensitively realised, helping reveal the listed town hall as a building of presence and charisma. 

Of particular note is the subtly inclusive variable-height seating made of curved hardwood, which is genuinely pleasant to sit on, unlike so much public seating these days.  Two wins in one design.

Town Hall Piazza

Town Hall inclusive seating

Nomination for a Nancye Goulden Award, 2026.

We’re fascinated by this unusual new building, especially its odd shape, and zig-zag brickwork, directly in front of the Contract Chair Co in Glenthorne Road.

133 Glenthorne Road

Nomination for a Wooden Spoon, 2026.

We received several nominations for the Town Hall redevelopment, these are split – generally positive towards the opening up and refurbishment of the GII listed Town Hall itself and its new piazza, but rather less so of the RSHP-designed scheme around it. There’s a separate Nancye Goulden nomination for the Piazza.

Nominating members reserved particular opprobrium for the unnecessary renaming of the Town Hall as ‘Civic Campus’, now officially ‘The Civic Campus, 1 Unity Square, London, W6 9JU’, lit up 24 x 7 in signage unseen in any planning CGI, as if to deny its documented heritage. Nigel Playfair Avenue has also been stripped of character as the generic ‘Civic Avenue’, and an unmistakable reflection of recent political messaging appears in the name ‘Unity Square’, particularly egregious since an obviously nonpolitical ‘Hammersmith Square W6’ or even ‘Town Hall Square W6’ have long been available.

Name changes didn’t enjoy public scrutiny, the news reminding us that recent similar moves in other parts of the world have received an equally poor reception, and that closer to home, we have become unwitting bedfellows with two other boroughs with their own chequered histories – Newham and Bromley.

Civic Campus AKA Town Hall

Civic Avenue AKA Nigel Playfair Avenue

Despite the welcome provision of some affordable housing in the scheme, according to the nominations, there are too many unnecessary own-goals in a project that promised so much. In summary:

• The addition of the glass canopy over the roof, which was a close call for Historic England, who demanded it reduced in scale. There are professionals and others concerned with heritage that still regard this addition as inappropriate, however pleasant a sky garden may be.
• The egg-crate glass frontage to King St is unnecessarily brutal, excessively tall in its context, and lacks respite, contrasting poorly with the faded Edwardian elegance of Cromwell mansions adjacent (building of merit), which is less than half the height and completely overwhelmed. This issue of a clear lack of respect for the adjacent townscape, in direct contravention to the council’s own Local Plan (5.4, HRA1 : “ensure building height is generally consistent with the existing height in the townscape”), was also recorded at the 2018 public consultation, and unheeded.
• Primary colours used in the scheme – the overwhelmingly dominant one, a startlingly bright red, described in at least one nomination as ‘orange-red’, more orange anyway, than a passing London bus.
  Being charitable, one could say that it matches architect Ernest Webber’s Neo-Georgian red brick, intended as a “joyful colour” with “contemporary continuity” according to the architect, but it clearly doesn’t, and this is of course a trademark of the late Richard Rogers, and his practice RSHP, whose choice of somewhat childish colours is often divisive, including in this scheme with its blue, green and yellow also – not the ‘timelessly beautiful’ hues perhaps found in the Farrow and Ball catalogue – these are likely to age quickly. 
  A quiet word in the architect’s ear, recorded at the 2018 public consultation, ‘a little bit of red goes a long way’ was comprehensively ignored. The same colour was used on the real terracotta facings on the flats facing the A4, prompting one architectural critic to note it as ‘an example of how to make a high quality material look cheap, which is quite a feat’. Some suggest the newbuild aesthetic (by Ryno systems) is reminiscent of a 1990s business park or value-engineered student housing block.
• The painted and scribed asphalt ‘paving’ on the south side of King Street, between Cromwell Avenue and the Town Hall. This is the first time we’ve seen a high-traffic public pavement painted, and it looks like the last gasp of the developer going bust, trying the finish the job without paying for paving stones, and a particularly stark contrast to the composite York stone paving immediately adjacent, laid under a previous administration.  A ha’peth of tar that surely must be temporary?
• The clock, which can only be seen from afar, and then only barely, due to its intricate design. This is a place where boldness and good lighting really would have helped.
• The apparent unnecessary politicised branding of the scheme: including unwise incorporation of an excessively dominant colour and nomenclature that could be read as such.

Click for full-size images

Town Hall – Red balconies

Town Hall Clock Studland Street

Painted pavement

Civic campus colours

Town Hall-Cromwell Mansions

Cromwell Mansions

Hammersmith Bridge July 2026

This is our twelfth update since 2019 closure to motorised transport.  The last time we reported on the bridge was nearly three years ago, when boreholes were being drilled to assess the strength of the river bed as part of preparation for straightening and potentially enacting the Foster-Cowi proposal.  Since then, the cracked pedestals have been filled, cast iron decorative covers completely removed, and the roadway resurfaced and reopened as a cycleway / walkway only, though high speed electric bikes and scooters whizz across it too.

The government’s Hammersmith Bridge Task Force last met in January 2025.  There’s since been talk of tapping the £1 billion Structures Fund to fund restoration.  But it’s a fund for the whole of the England, and for a period up until 2030, and any bids for funding must be in by 3 August. The now-suggested £300m full restoration cost appears a poor fit.

There’s a significant body of opinion that believes the current situation is sustainable – perhaps even ‘green’ – which as the council report shows below, is not true, with a cost in excess of £100m expected as a baseline, just to keep it standing as-is – while remaining usable. This option has our MP’s support, Andy Slaughter saying that ‘realistically this is the best option available’, while accepting that those with reduced mobility need a solution, but support from MP’s and others south of the river is rather less emphatic. The BBC goes further, suggesting that an axe has already fallen.

One idea being promoted is driverless pods taking 12 people at a time across the bridge. Our chairman and vice chairman, Angela Clarke and Matt Hedges, will be trying them out in Barnes this week and we expect there to be further information on them at our stall at the Hammersmith Community Day in Ravenscourt Park on Saturday 18 July. Come along to let us know what you think.

With costs escalating out of reach, and 7 years on the clock, somewhat surprisingly, as many members and others writing to us would be happy to see the bridge sold off to the highest bidder from a museum – or American state – if that could fund a new and fully functional bridge of some kind – unspecified – as would vote for a status quo, telling the story of an unwillingness to maintain London’s public infrastructure.

Cabinet bridge report. click to read.

This week the council cabinet received the report shown adjacent, which adjoining borough Richmond – whose residents are significantly more impacted – has claimed represents a poverty of ambition.

LBHF is considering its options now reporting a likely full restoration cost of around £300m, up from £250m last time we looked and the £200m of 2023.

Using the power of AI, we have summarised this to focus on the status and available options without editorial, below.

Phoenix Academy elevations – existing and proposed

The Hammersmith Society’s committee was pleased that the Council’s Planning Committee refused consent for 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 committee members had been in contact, raised a formidable campaign against the overbuilt proposal.

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.