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

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“

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.

Chairman’s Annual Report 2024
Click on the image to open the pdf

Attached is this year’s Chairman’s Annual Report, reviewing the key activities of the Society, plus a look at emerging trends in Hammersmith.

Subjects include:

• Royal Masonic Hospital
• Earls Court
• Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA)
  • 181 Talgarth Road, M&S & 2 Queen Caroline St.
• Town Centre Masterplan / SPD
• Transport
  • Hammersmith Bridge
  • Roundabout consultations
• The Society
  • Prof. Hans Haenlein’s retirement
  • Committee changes & recruitment
  • Hammersmith Weekly

The agenda, accounts and other AGM information are on the dedicated 2024 AGM page.

Tom Ryland Award for Conservation, 2024.

Ravenscourt Park Tea House

Ravenscourt Park Tea House

The Grade 2 listed, 200 year old Tea House was on the buildings at risk register for some time (see related story), but has now been sensitively restored by the council and made weathertight, along with the adjacent toilet block (to the left of the photos).

The interior is now open and has been let to a third party café operator, providing an agreeable stopping point should the weather not allow the new outside seating to be used. We have some reservations about one or two details of the overprominent building services, and the immediately adjacent landscaping could be improved, but these are minor niggles. The rebuilt glasshouse adjacent, home of HCGA, is worthy of a mention too, though not nominated here.

Tom Ryland Award for Conservation, 2024.

The Leaning Lady was restored this summer, after more than sixty years. Along with other artworks, the statue was a gift to the community from the LCC partly as reparation for the damage caused by the building of the Great West Road through the middle of Hammersmith in the 1950’s. The statue was created by Czech refugee Dr. Karel Vogel in an unusual concrete material that had eroded over time. The restoration project was driven by affiliate SPRA and the council, and managed by Heritage of London Trust who also part funded the project with many local people in a community-driven fundraiser. 

Leaning Lady restored 2024

Dr Nicola Stacey of Heritage of London Trust at the unveiling of the restored Leaning Lady Statue with HRH Duke of Gloucester

Leaning Lady unveiling “Proud Places”

Tom Ryland Award for Conservation 2024 – with affiliate S.P.R.A. and Heritage of London Trust [Photo: HOLT]

Visit the above links for the charming story of the unveiling by HRH the Duke of Gloucester, in the presence of many local schoolchildren who created their own projects around the restoration, as part of HOLT’s Proud Places programme.

Nomination for a Tom Ryland Award for Conservation, 2024

The office of Beata Heuman

Beata Heuman, 188 Hammersmith Road – exterior

188 Hammersmith Road – exterior (night)

See Beata Heuman and House and Garden

Nominated by a member who says  “There are often members of the public taking photos of this building, especially at night, as it is beautifully lit as well as sympathetically restored. It is a joy to walk by. The small “Wildlife” Garden is very well tended and is a great addition to having some plants and greenery to admire along this road”

Royal Masonic Hospital Block A, as proposed

We’ve reported on progress of this substantial development three times over the last two years; the plans are now complete and public, with 385 documents under planning reference 2023/03129/FUL. We’ve been in regular contact with the developers and attended meetings, as have the immediately neighbouring residents, and groups including Residents Associations either side – Ravenscourt Square – and our affiliate in Ravenscourt Gardens RA. These public consultations are summarised in the proposal’s Statement of Community Engagement on the planning portal.

We’ve said publicly many times that rescuing and repurposing this Grade II* set of hospital buildings is most welcome, but as usual, not at any cost. We review the proposal in that mindset.  On the plus side, it’s a relatively sensitive proposal without the usual gross overbuilding we see in almost every other development. The team has engaged widely and openly with interested community groups, and many of our concerns have been considered and several addressed in the plans now proposed.

We welcome the refurbishment of this precious building, and appreciate the care that has been taken in the design of the alterations necessary for the new residential use; however we still have some significant concerns, most of which have been expressed in previous updates and are summarised as follows:

• In conservation terms, there remain significant concerns over the inappropriate glass podiums over Block A as pictured above. These have been tamed and improved since originally proposed, but there’s no getting away from the fact that there’s no actual use proposed for Block A, other than as an entrance, so these are strictly unnecessary additions without a clear public benefit. The NPPF sets the criteria for such interventions on such listed buildings, as we, Friends of Ravenscourt Park and the Historic Buildings Group have said before, this remains unaddressed. The Design and Access Statement uses an inappropriate combination of the council’s industrial strategy and an apparent inability to subdivide the heritage rooms as reasoning for their creation.

• Continued →

H&F wheelie bins

Members have been writing to us about council plans for wheelie bins in some areas, though parts of the borough already have them from a pilot scheme. Our interest is to ensure that they don’t damage the streetscape and the wider environment through excessive or unnecessary deployment of plastic, especially of the large and/or dayglo variety. 

The council circulated leaflets to 16,000 households in the borough announcing more wheelie bins and food waste containers. To date, there has been no suggestion of a public consultation process with residents before deployment, which hardly matches the philosophy of ‘Doing things with residents, not to them‘ listed against every council policy. There is a possible opportunity to reject them, but only after the fact, through an unpublished ‘reassessment’ process. Out would go your dustbins (if you have them) and in would come tall and bulky plastic bins – one for waste and one for recycling. You would also be given a smaller food waste container.

To take the food waste first – for the majority who do not have a compost bin, this container may be helpful. It would remove food from black bags and so reduce ripping and spillage. It can be locked to prevent animal access and the waste will be processed to make fertiliser. So far, so good.

The large bins are another matter.  Not only are they much taller than a regular dustbin at about 1.1m, and therefore much more obtrusive above a wall or fence, they are also bulky and take room in a front garden. For residents who pride themselves on an attractive and green garden this will come as a blow. Where are the bins to go? Who is to pay for the necessary re-paving? 

As the bins have to be wheeled out to be emptied their access has to be clear – no shielding them behind shrubbery. If you normally do not have a bin you would be required to have two. Bins would be the first thing that greets you and your visitors, and the ‘kerb appeal’ of your home and the whole street could be significantly harmed as the photos below show, reducing amenity, social and financial values, to the detriment of all – aside from an unspecified figure on the council’s bottom line.

Bin sizes

World’s fastest wheelie bin- 88km/h

The standard 240L dayglo green recycling bin is the largest size commonly available, and three – yes three – times the size of the a conventional 80L bin, which is about half the height, and one-sixth of the weight – empty. It can hold five bin bags, or the weight of a large grown man, as many a comedy sketch – or recent world speed record – confirms. The black ‘waste’ bin at 140L is nearly twice the size of a conventional bin. This represents an aggregate of just about five times the bin storage space you probably have now, and in a world increasingly short of space, and trying to reduce waste of all sorts, appears to send a very odd message.