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 out of proportion.

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.

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.

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.

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

Royal Masonic Hospital Block A – showing originally proposed glass pavilions, now removed

This project finally received permission by unanimous vote after a long planning meeting on 30th July, but with some remaining concerns expressed by neighbours. A member of your committee attended to observe and note the proceedings. We’ve written about this project four times and have been working to help improve the scheme since the site sale over three years ago.

The issues were primarily around proposed design and building heights for the new 5-storey blocks E and F (given the conservation area/listed building location), adjacency issues for neighbours at both ends of the site, transport access, affordable housing provision, historic gardens, and importantly in this case, proposed additions to the Grade II* listed  buildings, particularly glass pavilions originally proposed on block A (pictured above), and the liner-style balconies on blocks B and C which have adjacency issues with Ravenscourt Gardens neighbours. 

Recent Changes

There have been two significant revisions since the original planning application in April 2024, which sought conversion to 140 flats, 65 care home places (discharging a medical covenant), 21 affordable, plus community use of block A (the main entrance).

In the first, last November, the glass pavilions were ushered off after our concerns, those of Historic England (really notable harm), the Historic Buildings Group, and the 20th Century Society were acknowledged, and an improved solution was found to the privacy / adjacency issues on the balconies, after the proposed heavy concrete planters were similarly dispatched. The screening issue has been addressed by glass inner balustrades, and a pleached tree boundary treatment, with separation distances discussed at some length by the planning committee, and shown to be greater than 18m in all but one case.

RMH Blocks E & F  – from May 2023 revision

In the second earlier this year, replacement block E/F maximum heights were lowered, and made more uniform by removal of the roof plant, moving it below ground in the place formerly allocated for car parking, this now being a car-free development, satisfying LBHF planning policy and some traffic concerns mentioned by existing neighbours. Part of this change was brought about by welcome adoption of a Ground Source Heat Pump heating system, and solar PV on the roof.  There were also refinements to the landscaping and planting, including relocation of a copper beech tree at the end of block C.

A review of comments made in our earlier articles shows that many of the issues raised by us, and others, have been addressed positively in the final design.

The planning committee accepted the officers’ assessment that the substantial public and heritage benefits of restoring the vacant listed building and opening it to the public outweighed the identified less than substantial harm, and that the impacts on neighbour’s amenity were acceptable. Support from Historic England was a significant factor in this decision, the hospital having been on the Buildings at Risk register.

Rivercourt LTN council information

In the six months since the temporary Rivercourt Road LTN was put in place, we’ve received messages nearly every week – vanishingly few positive – and it’s still regularly our most read article on the website.  Messages fall into the following categories, with more than one correspondent questioning legality:

• Implementation problems:
  • I’ve received a fine, I don’t know why.
  • The signage / wording is poor – I had no idea I wasn’t supposed to go down there.
  • I paid for a visitor by RingGo who still got fined.
  • I witnessed someone reversing into the A4 – the ‘turning circle’ is dangerous – or – I witnessed an accident caused by someone slowing down/stopping to read the signs and being hit from behind, creating a multi-vehicle shunt – example images below.
• The LTN is damaging my business, I’m leaving the borough.

Rivercourt crash front

Rivercourt crash rear-end

The “local access only” wording and cacophony of messy signage is considered deceptive by many correspondents – this and many of the other are points were raised in our original article.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that when challenged on a PCN fine, the council may back down, rather than attend a tribunal, however there’s rather more to this story, when considered in the light of the recent High Court case.

JULY 2025 UPDATE Based on the council’s publicity, residents may have believed that they could allow visitors, quote: “Local residents can also easily get access for the visitors by using the RingGo app, which has proved widely successful in residential areas throughout the borough…” The words throughout the borough are misleading and only part of the story. In fact only residents in certain streets extremely close to Rivercourt Road can provide access for their visitors. LBHF now says (but doesn’t yet publicise the details): Cromwell Avenue, Weltje Road, Beavor Lane, Vencourt Place, Ravenscourt Park, (only some properties: from junction of King Street to the train bridge) and Ravenscourt Road (only part from junction of King Street to the train bridge).  A number of residents have written to us, detailing problems they’ve had with the Ringo system which was supposed to have been upgraded five years ago to properly support LTN access, but still has senior moments.  Caveat emptor.

The West Dulwich case

Last month, the legality of the way in which an LTN was implemented by Lambeth Council in West Dulwich was tested in the High Court, and found to be unlawful.  It wasn’t the legalities of the LTN itself, but the poor way in which consultation was carried out, and the way in which the council failed to take due consideration of well researched and detailed evidence provided by local people in a 53-page submission.

Images from Design & Access statement for 2025/00389/FUL

We’re pleased to note that yesterday, LBHF and RBKC simultaneously approved the proposed pedestrian and cycle underpass underneath the Overground (Mildmay Line), linking the Imperial White City North Campus to North Kensington’s Latimer Road.  Modelled on continental schemes by Dutch architects West 8 of Rotterdam, the D&A statement includes images from several similar schemes – reproduced here – including those seen in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.  This begs the question – could TfL replicate this at the opposite end of what was once “The world’s shortest motorway” – the West Cross Route – just 1km south ?

The approved scheme is part of a Section 106 commitment made by Imperial as part of their scheme at the White City North Campus in 2013. We advertised and attended an exhibition of the proposals last September in Wood Lane, and it was approved by the councils at simultaneous planning meetings on 10th June.

The images speak for themselves, the only significant issue appearing to be how to keep pedestrians safe from any ‘turbocharged’ e-bikes that are likely to appear: the RBKC committee agreed to a 6 month safety review. Mopeds and other officially recognised motorbikes won’t be allowed, and CCTV is in the design to ensure that the council’s LET team and Imperial will be able to monitor transgressors. Affiliate St. Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Forum has a longer report with more of the history of the scheme.

Holland Park Roundabout

HPR TfL proposal

Last year TfL presented a proposal for Holland Park Roundabout (HPR). It provides an additional cycleway, but removes a lane of Holland Park Avenue (HPA), routing bikes around the Thames Water Tower on the inside of the roundabout, and across the 3 lanes lanes of traffic, making it a maximum of 8 lanes wide, as shown, requiring additional junctions, and additional signals.

The roundabout currently provides cycle and pedestrian routes north and south: the relevance to this story is that the existing northern underpass, under the pedestrian surface crossing at the southern end of the West Cross Route, bears more than a passing resemblance the scheme just approved 1km north. It could provide a lower cost, very much simpler, safe and ready-made solution.

HP underpass 2

HP underpass 1

HP underpass 3

HP underpass 4 (with sheep)

Those writing to us have expressed concerns over the likelihood of further delays to the many already congested buses at Shepherds Bush Green, and down HPA – seriously congested in rush hours – plus the scheme’s apparent unnecessary cost, complexity and added dangers. The proposal creates additional junctions where the 8 bus routes, numbered 31, 94, 148, 228, 49, C1, 295, and 316 cross to Shepherds Bush bus station / Westfield, through which it’s proposed to drive a bidirectional cycle lane.  The well-established statistic is that 80% of accidents happen at junctions. 

TfL also suggests there would be some local traffic displacement, which, with Shepherds Bush residents already significantly affected by Westfield, would present further problems.  Independent traffic analysis using industry standard models – incorporating the loss of one lane on HPA – shows that the scheme would greatly increase congestion, supporting our correspondents’ concerns.

Telegraph HPR – click for/video

A video report in last weekend’s Telegraph shows that a number are significantly adding to their own risks by running the poorly timed lights at the bottom of HPA.

TfL suggests that HPR is high on their list of London’s most dangerous junctions – the main reason for the scheme. Local campaign group SOS dispute the accident figures by a large factor – TfL claim 54 accidents in the 3 years to May 2023, but SOS’s detailed analysis from public records only shows one slight accident involving a cyclist, and no pedestrian incidents at all – despite the above activity. TfL cast a wide net over the area including much of Shepherds Bush Green and the junctions close by to create their ‘HPR danger’ narrative. The London Cycling Campaign has campaigned in support of the proposal, but does not include the roundabout in it’s list of top 20 dangerous junctions.

Save our streets leaflet (click to view)

SOS are highlighting the dangers of the proposed additional junctions, their analysis of TfL’s own consultation data obtained under FOI, suggesting that only 12% of residents and 30% of cyclists support the scheme.  Many currently eschew the existing infrastructure altogether (paths and crossings), and use the road – as is – as the video shows.

Empress State Building (+Earls Court 2)
[photo: Wikipedia]

Hammersmith has several tall buildings, the latest being 181 Talgarth road, but perhaps the most iconic is 1961’s Empress State (31 Storeys) next to Earls Court. There are more in the pipeline, particularly on our borders. Six years ago, we wrote about the increasing fashion for rather less iconic hi-rises, then referring to what we now call the Ziggurat (35 storeys), Centre House (32 storeys, now largely complete opposite TV Centre on Wood Lane), and the prospect of what was being planned at North Acton, in an “almost continuous string of high-rise developments from NW10 to W12”.

We’re not there – yet – but unknown at the time were the remaining details around Imperial White City and White City Living,  227 Wood Lane, Earls Court – now proposing to build upwards to 42 storeys – and a 29 storey tower, 100 Kensington starting to loom over Tesco at 100 West Cromwell Road next door, and of course along the way, 181 Talgarth road.  Wandsworth recently rejected Terry Farrell’s 29-storey tower on the south side of Battersea Bridge, perhaps suggesting that the recent article by Sir Simon Jenkins has been read London was a city of streets; now it’s a city of towers

Michael Bach of the London Forum recently noted that according to the NLA annual tall buildings report, the pipeline for London’s tall buildings numbers nearly 600 – equivalent to a 20-year supply – based on the completion rate of the last 10 years.

The GLA, London Plan and Tall Buildings Report

Do tall buildings work?

Tall buildings have become the consistent hallmark of Mayoral Opportunity Areas since Ken Livingstone’s days, detailed in our recent Planning System article, more recently favoured by the student accommodation sector (PBSA), notably at North Acton, but also from White City to Nine Elms, and farther afield, remembering that Earls Court is also an opportunity area.  This has led to the recent GLA investigation, and last month’s publication of their Tall Buildings Report. Far from extolling the virtues of tall buildings, important questions are now being asked about the cost (both rent/purchase, and long term, including to the environment), suitability for the people housed in them, particularly families, quality of construction, and of course whether they are actually addressing the ‘housing crisis’.

In the run up to the next London Plan due in 2026-7, the Mayor’s “Towards a New London Plan” document and consultation suggests that his dissatisfaction is that some boroughs haven’t clearly identified tall building locations, and may mandate new rules for tall building clusters, including a minimum height benchmark for small sites, with potentially lower maximum heights near the river. Any clarification would be welcome.  While there’s a welcome proposal to reduce duplication with the NPPF and other policies, and sensitivities around Tall Buildings are recognised, there are a lot of options being tabled here, which might suggest a lack of confidence and/or strategic direction. The public consultation is open until 22 June.

The developer’s argument is often straightforward – it creates more housing on less land, and is more viable. One of the spanners in the works has been the requirement for two staircases post-Grenfell, reducing floor sizes, so putting yet more pressure on heights. There’s also the potential for an insidious side-effect of Mayoral the call-in process, regularly used to approve such designs often against local opposition, and councils (current examples being a 46 storey PBSA tower in Canary Wharf, and a 27 storey PBSA tower at Archway) – the typical step-and-repeat, so called spreadsheet architecture means that developers can easily stretch the tower upwards to meet the demand for a minimum 35% affordable, or until an agreed figure is reached, with almost no design effort at all.  Then they can blame the Mayor.

Last year, the London Forum reported that London is “on course to have the most crowded skyline in Europe“, following a Policy Exchange report that says ‘mania’ for high rise development has damaged UK cities’ and that far from helping the housing crisis,  ‘tall buildings have in fact “made it worse”’. In one memorable week, around half the stories in our Hammersmith Weekly email were about hi-rises, with recent stories around Westfield Living confirming many of the issues. 

Whatever the truth of the claims and counter-claims, in the twenty years of London Plans, coincident with the drive upwards (that was supposed to address the problem), the housing situation has turned from a problem to a “crisis”, and some of the original towers are already being demolished for yet taller ones, before questioning whether they are part of the solution, or part of the problem.

Mogden sewage works [photo : eight2O]

With the recent boat races having brought with them the annual hand-wringing over river pollution, providing the Mayor with an opportunity to remind us of his 2024 pledge to make London’s rivers swimmable within 10 years, it seems an appropriate moment to review the status quo in this long running saga.

In addition to the annual boat race related news, there have been a number of stories in the wake of the recent Thames Water TV documentary and the related Tideway Tunnel or ‘Super Sewer’ completion, after more than a decade of construction.  The programme revealed a team of people battling the odds to keep an overstretched system working, and not always winning. It must be disappointing for those working on the project to have so much of the news created by the things they were working for years to fix.

There’s the small matter of the automatic outfall monitors now mandated by OFWAT which, connected directly to Twitter, became an effective way to allow the public to beat the water companies with their opprobrium.  It may be that there were plenty of spills before these monitors, but that nobody could put a number on them, and the increasing heavy rainfall episodes have clearly not helped.

Original Super Sewer plans

Notwithstanding the connection to the Super Sewer at Hammersmith under the watchful eye of our own Capability Brown, and at Fulham on Carnwath road, there have been quite a range of related stories that help illustrate the causes, effects and work being done – or not – to address them, here’s a roundup: