Hammersmith Community Gardens Association is a local charity that has been operating on a site in Ravenscourt Park since 2004.  The existing glasshouse structures have been refurbished twice but are at the end of their life, and existing facilities are limited or inadequate for use in winter.  They are looking to raise £115,000 for new glasshouses, and so far have pledges of £48,000.  The Hammersmith Society recently agreed to make a contribution.

Pledges can be made via https://www.spacehive.com/31651, they need to raise all funds by 12th August to complete the campaign and unlock additional Mayoral and Council funding.  Pledges will not result in money being taken unless the total amount is pledged.

HCGA provides a range of activities from school visits, volunteer gardening sessions for people including refugees and those with health and learning difficulties. Pop up Yoga is held twice weekly, with the glasshouses acting as headquarters for the wider organisation.

The new glasshouse will be configured for maximum use. A large central space that can be used for meetings, concerts & workshops leading out on to the walled garden. To facilitate this vision they have negotiated a 25 year lease on the site, with full planning permission.

More about HCGA, by HCGA

Members of the Committee visited our 30th Annual Award Nominations on Sunday 19th May and shortlisted them. They’re all shown on the nominations page in their categories, with a selection here.

If you would like to comment on them, or make suggestions for winners, please use the comment form on the above page, or on Instagram.

Imperial West residential tower

Sovereign Court South

Paintbox Studios and Coffeeology

Hammersmith Grove Parklets – West

Dalling Road Open Space, St David’s Day 2019 [Photo: Richard Jackson]

Paradise gardens

Plants-not-pollution under flyover

White City Campus: Molecular Sciences building

Savoy Circus: Chapter student accommodation

Maison Samadi

Saffron – refurbished

st-augustines-church interior

Planters under flyover

Award winners will be announced at the AGM at Olympia on 12th June. 

Members, guests, and friends will be warmly welcomed.

2019 Nominations on Instagram

We’re pleased to announce that The Hammersmith Society is now on Instagram.

We’ll post images of our Award Nominations and Winners, as well as other relevant images, aiming to widen our appeal throughout Hammersmith as part of our celebration of 30 years of the Awards.

Our page is here: https://www.instagram.com/hammersmithsoc

Please follow us, and comment on the nominations there or on our nominations page.

Click on the newsletter image to open the pdf 

The Special 20-page Anniversary Newsletter has been published, celebrating 30 years of Hammersmith Society Awards. Printed copies are being distributed to subscribing members.

This year’s Award Nominations are open – winners of Awards and wooden spoons will be announced at the AGM at Olympia on 12th June.  Members and their guests will be warmly welcomed at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. 

Please do nominate your choice – see our awards page to understand the process and the various award categories, and to review/comment on the list of existing nominations which are being added to the website as they come in. Nominations close on 15th May.

It would help us if you can send us a photo with your nomination.

The Council has launched a 12-week consultation on the future of Linford Christie Stadium at the edge of Wormwood Scrubs here. The present stadium is dilapidated but heavily used by Thames Valley Harriers athletics club and other local groups. the options offered are:

• Do nothing – but the council says it is not viable;
• Improve existing facilities, probably in partnership with a sponsor, such as Imperial;
• A major redevelopment with up to 45.000 seats, accommodating a sports and entertainment venue as well as athletics tracks.

Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre (photo: © David Hawgood)

This will be a highly charged debate with competing demands. On the one hand, H&F Council like all other councils is facing a severely squeezed budget. On the other, Wormwood Scrubs is a green lung for west London with a special character that has been described as “more wild than tamed” . Placing a 45,000 seat sport and entertainment venue at its very edge will bring huge numbers of people to a place which is used and valued for quiet recreation, low-key amateur sports, dog-walking and bird watching, and its designated Local Nature Reserve areas. 

The Hammersmith Society’s response to the consultation is here: 

Hammersmith Society – consultation response.pdf

Hammersmith Highline location (photo: Hammersmith BID)

We’re intrigued by the possibility of a linear park or alternative use for the disused part of the District Line viaduct between the Kings Mall flats and the new Sovereign Court, as proposed by Hammersmith BID and West London Link (known for the Flyunder concept) as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2019.  Inspired by the New York highline and the Promenade Plantée in Paris that preceded it, there’s a competition open for ideas – details here. The project has it’s own Twitter page, where you can follow progress.

Given the challenges of the location and some of the similarities, we’re attracted to the new tropical roof garden above the Crossrail station at Canary Wharf as a source of inspiration, but the site will lend itself to many interpretations, so do please take part if you have ideas.

Former garage, Wellesley Ave (photo:yell.com)

Developers appealed against the decision of the Council to refuse permission for the development of substantial office accommodation on the site of the former Aston Martin garage. Local residents had objected to the proposals on a wide number of grounds. They also regret the passing of the garage which was generally a well mannered and friendly neighbour.

The appeal was dismissed after careful consideration by the Inspector. The major reasons given were:

•  The overbearing impact of the proposals on the rear gardens in Wellesley Avenue and Dorville Crescent and loss of privacy at 29 Dorville Crescent.
• Living conditions at the proposed maisonette at 14 Wellesley Avenue on account of the refuse area being directly below the bedroom window.
• The height and mass of the proposed office building and dominance of the second floor would mean a ‘failure to integrate’ with the intimate residential nature of the street, it would be visually obtrusive and harmful to the character and appearance of the conservation area.
• Inadequate provision for Sustainable Drainage Systems.

Official Appeal Decision

Several committee members attended the latest Heathrow Consultation held on 24th Jan.  A more detailed article will appear in the next Newsletter, but in the meantime the essential take-aways are summarised in the graphic shown, short-cutting the 26 consultation documents. 

“Arrivals-1 for the northern runway”

This shows one of the most problematic proposed new arrivals flight paths “Arrivals-1 for the Northern runway” (used 75% of the time for early mornings), overlaid with a “heat map” of the Society’s membership. Make no mistake, the majority of members would be directly overflown at 2000-3000ft.  The “Arrivals-2” option is worse for some members, with overflights between 2000-2500ft in the southern part of Hammersmith.

We urge you to respond to the online questionnaire answering “neither – prefer no expansion” to most questions, or use appropriate detailed responses largely the same as Chiswick’s, see: http://chatr.org.uk. You must do this by 4th March.

Currently, no Hammersmith residents are directly overflown, and those living North of King Street (the majority of our members) hear rather less of the early morning arrivals along the river that plague those living further South, particularly in TEAM mode between 6-7am as described here.

Olympia – Hotel

Olympia – View from rail bridge

Olympia Way – New entrance

Olympia Way

Olympia – View up North End road

Olympia 1930 frontage & hotel

Olympia – View of theatre

(Click on images for full-sized versions, then scroll through the set)

The big and complex application for redevelopment of the 14 acre site, which includes a cluster of Listed Buildings, was approved by the Council’s Planning Committee on 30 January, having been been given a very speedy journey through the planning process.

In our view it was not fully ready to be approved, and we had hoped to gain some modifications on height and architectural detail. There are also serious concerns about how the local area will cope with the numbers of additional workers and visitors to the exhibition halls and performance spaces, while TfL has stated that there is no prospect of extending regular District Line service to Kensington Olympia station in the immediate future, and adjacent bus routes have been recently curtailed.

In our comments we stated that the new development would breathe new life into a very special part of Hammersmith. But the proposed theatre block on Hammersmith Road, the height of the central office building rising above the original Olympia buildings, and the Thomas Heatherwick – designed hotel extension on the south-east corner, which will date very quickly, should have been given more time and thought to get right.