West London Magistrates proposal 2021

The third iteration of this project has been submitted to council planners for approval under ref 2021/03561/FUL. After the closure of the courts in 2017, the usual procedure of retaining the site in public ownership to provide facilities for public benefit was set aside, and the site was sold for around £45M to the Dominvs Group, a major hotel developer. We commented on the latest proposals formally, (see our letter at the foot of this article), here we present a summary.

Context

West London Magistrates hotels – first application 2019

The first planning application in January 2019 proposed a luxury hotel and a tourist hotel, together providing  over 800 bedrooms in a development area exceeding 37,000 sqm including buildings over 70 metres high. These proposals were endorsed by LBHF despite vehement public opposition, especially from the residents south of the site and the Friends of Margravine Cemetery. Hammersmith Society comments to LBHF concluded that the application offered ‘… a very substantial and visible development offering so little to the Hammersmith streetscape.’

West London Magistrates hotels – RSHP – April 2020

In the light of this opposition, the developer generously agreed to reconsider, but on the notable condition that there would be no compromise to the very substantial area and height of the first scheme. So a new design team was appointed, and a planning application followed in April 2020. This second scheme provided the same accommodation, in an imaginative design, a transformation after the disappointments of the first proposal.

Hammersmith Society comments and analysis were submitted in April 2020. While the proposals were developed in consultation with the neighbouring residents, bringing about the relocation of the taller elements to the back of the site, furthest remote from the neighbouring housing,  residents’ concerns remained unresolved, to a degree which was not appreciated until later in the process. The scheme received planning approval in December 2020.

Third Iteration

West London Magistrates proposal  2021 – view across railway

With the change in market conditions brought about by the pandemic, the project had to be changed again:  the luxury hotel has been replaced by a student accommodation block with 730 rooms, maintaining the same development density as the first two schemes, but in a form which was to be acceptable to the residents south of the site and the Friends of Magravine Cemetery.

Former Royal Masonic Hospital site extents [Savills brochure]

The former Royal Masonic Hospital site, recently marketed by Savills as “a landmark development opportunity”, is currently under offer.  Sitting in a conservation area, surrounded by listed housing and overlooking Ravenscourt Park, the Grade II* hospital building and its later additions occupy a plum site in the heart of Hammersmith.

Royal Masonic Hospital – entrance hall
[Savills brochure]

Opened by King George V and Queen Mary in 1933, its steel-framed modernist architecture by Tait & Lorne famously won an RIBA Gold Medal as the best building of 1933, while its interiors, fixtures and fittings were custom designed throughout in the same Art Deco style.

But times changed, and after a controversial sale in the 1990s, although its Art Deco interiors continued to make frequent appearances in films and in television series like Poirot, subsequent owners proved unable to find a viable healthcare use. And after standing empty for 15 years, the main building will need considerable investment in refurbishment and restoration.

BFI RMH film [click to view]

A short promotional film made in 1970 gives us a fascinating glimpse into the hospital in its heyday. Fifty years ago, it was a self-contained organisation with its own kitchens, laundry, laboratories and a nursing school and staff accommodation, all set in 10 acres of immaculately kept grounds.

Royal Masonic Hospital [Freemasonry Today]

Following discussions with Council planners, the agents, Savills, are now saying that ‘medical use’ covenants need no longer apply and suggest a range of alternative possibilities for future development. Only the main building, with its twin entrance pillars representing Healing and Charity, is listed. The site also contains several smaller buildings which are described as targets for demolition and redevelopment – even “possible upward extensions”.

Any development on this scale and in this location will have a significant impact both on the park and the local community, so it is vital that we should all have a say in the future of this important part of our Hammersmith heritage.

Olympia, November 2021.  Click for super-size panorama

Anyone living near Olympia will be all too aware of the scale of the building works going on. When we first looked at the plans in late 2017,  we couldn’t envisage the true scale of the project.  At that time, the visualisations showed mezzanine decks added to the halls to increase floor area, and the rest were just outlines.  We’re now told that the mezzanines are not going to be built as exhibitors have shown a preference for more open floor area.  There are, after all, existing galleries around the halls.

Recently, the developers Yoo Capital/Future Olympia have invited the public to visit and overlook the site via the roof, as we advertised in our diary, the featured tour being led by construction director Tony Palgrave.  From Hammersmith Road one can see the huge steel structure supporting the Art Deco frontage, but what’s not so obvious is the size of the hole behind it.  The original building as you can see is now gone, but it had limited value having been chopped about for decades as previous owners tried to make it relevant, even becoming the “UKAY Olympia” furniture shop in the 1980’s.  The concrete is being ground up and recycled for the new buildings, a modern way to reduce waste, but not perhaps as green as some might have it, due to limited re-use of the embodied carbon.

Olympia roof – music venue in distance

The music venue at the rear of the site (shown adjacent in the distance with white crane alongside) is now built to it’s final height and the foundations for the theatre in front if it are now being built (far right of the main panorama); this will be followed by the foundations for the offices that will appear behind and above the Deco frontage over the next year or two. The proposed phased opening will be in 2024-5.

Olympia model 2021

The model on display in the Pillar Hall where the tour started, which we first saw at our AGM in 2019, shows the scale of the development, with the theatre frontage onto Hammersmith Road to the left of the office block behind the Deco frontage. Committee members have been active in helping to improve the theatre frontage and public realm by meeting periodically with the developers over the last 2 or 3 years.

181 Talgarth Road – April 2020 RSHP scheme

In April last year we reported on the hotel development proposed for the former West London Magistrate’s Court site at 181 Talgarth Road, a proposal which would include two hotels:  a 442-bedroom, 23-storey luxury hotel, and a 440-bed, 10-storey tourist hotel. Permission for the development was agreed in July, and after referral to the Mayor’ office the consent was confirmed in December.

Since then, with the change in economic circumstances, the developer Dominvs Group has chosen to revise the scheme:  retaining the tourist hotel, but providing Student Accommodation for up to 696 students, possibly linked to the Imperial College White City campus, in place of the 23-storey luxury hotel. 

181 Talgarth Road – March 2021 proposed scheme

Initial proposals are for a student block with massing generally similar to the approved luxury hotel block, but adjusted to reduce the maximum height by two storeys, to 68 metres, and to enlarge the plan to add 2,400 sq. m floor area. We understand that TP Bennett, architects of King’s House at the other end of Shortlands, are to be appointed for this building, and that the accommodation would be run by Scape who are well-known in the sector.

No change is proposed to the tourist hotel design, but the landscaped public realm within the site would become a student amenity space, providing access to the student cycle store – a more mundane provision which lacks the tempietto, restaurant and bar which created a welcome spark in the earlier scheme. The prospect of a revised planning application has revived the considerable public opposition to the earlier development, and the Society is participating in consultations currently taking place.

181 Talgarth Road – 2021 proposed public realm

This new scheme opens a further chapter in the uncomfortable history of this important site. The story began with the sale of the land by the Ministry of Justice, evidently failing to follow Cabinet Office guidelines which require that, prior to commercial sale, sites in public ownership should be assessed for residential, educational or similar public benefit. The sale of the Magistrates Court site was advertised with enticements including ‘precedent for tall buildings’ and reports of ‘positive pre-application feedback from LBHF’  without revealing the LBHF advice received.  It is not clear if the £42m purchase price paid by Dominvs was based on a development valuation gleaned from the ‘evolving’ Town Centre Masterplan – a plan which has been evolving since 2015, but has still not been reviewed through public consultation. The provisional Masterplan currently circulating is based on a plan which incorporates the completed A4 fly-under tunnel, describing a misleading urban context for the hotel site. 

Town Hall extension demolition

Since the Town Hall extension was shrouded in scaffolding last year, internal strip-out has been progressing, and this year a gentler strip-out has been taking place inside the old Town Hall building, pictured. 

We’re told that this continued where permitted during lock-down, but now we can see that the real demolition has started at last, and the destruction of the concrete steps and walkways is wonderful confirmation that the new Town Hall and the new Civic Campus are on their way.

The steps and walkways recently featured in the wedding episode of BBC2’s well-received series Trigonometry, together with the entrance hall of the old Town Hall itself as wedding venue, a space facing the new Town Square that will be hugely improved by the removal of the ugly 70’s construction.  Nearby filming locations included the adjacent Riverside Gardens and Macbeth Streets.

Olympia theatre – as submitted for planning

In April the Society joined an on-line consultation meeting when the Olympia development team presented their draft proposals due to be submitted shortly to amend the original approved scheme.  We have been following their progress on the design of the theatre on the southwest corner of Olympia, and the scheme has greatly improved, now providing a lively and interesting façade to introduce Olympia on the Hammersmith Road frontage. Details of the submission should be available on the LBHF planning website shortly.

We are expecting further news about the Triangle development on Beadon Road, after the developer held an uninformative public exhibition in March to show a proposal for a combination of hotel and office uses in the new building.  

The huge Earls Court site is now in the hands of developers Delancey, who have invited the committee to an introductory presentation to take place in the near future.  This of course is likely to be on-line, given the circumstances, or much delayed.

181 Talgarth Road is the site where the former West London Magistrates building stands, located between the Ark office building and the BP garage, at the foot of the flyover.

West London Magistrates court: Initial design – now superseded

After the closing of the court facilities in 2017, the site was sold for commercial use, and in January 2019 the new owner submitted a planning application for a 800-bed  hotel development.  The proposals attracted widespread opposition from the local community including the Hammersmith Society, and as a result, in an unusual and public-spirited move, the developer, The Dominvs Group, chose to set aside the application, despite receiving a planning report recommending approval.

After discussions with LBHF, the Dominvs Group appointed a new design team with architects Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners (RSHP), who are also the architects for the Town Hall Civic Campus project.

West London Magistrates Court: RSHP redesign

The new design team were set to work to a demanding programme, and the Society joined a series of consultation meetings with the site neighbours, in particular the residents of the streets south of the site, whose outlook would have been dominated by the double slab block of the earlier scheme.

A planning application for the new scheme was lodged at the beginning of April, and the Society has now reviewed the proposals and returned comments to LBHF. The application may be viewed on the planning website here: 2020/00915/FUL. 

UPDATED: Our detailed review is here:
 Letter to LBHF – Hammersmith Society comments

Women’s Pioneer Housing, 227 Wood Lane

We reported in the Winter 2019-2020 newsletter that a proposal was being prepared by Architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for a new 25-storey tower block to the north of the A40 on Wood Lane.

The proposals replace Browning House, which is a 4-storey social housing block owned by Women’s Pioneer Housing (WPH). They are a housing association providing specialist accommodation.

An application has been submitted for a 29-storey tower, the proposals increasing the number of 2-person, 1-bedroom flats for WPH from 36 to 80, plus creating an additional 350 co-living accommodation units to be rented by developer HUB. These provide compact 1-person studio flats serviced by communal kitchens, living spaces and other facilities.

One justification for the 29-storey tower is the approval granted for the recently completed 34-storey ‘Ziggurat’ tower on the Imperial College White City campus site on the opposite side of Wood Lane. The latter was unpopular locally, but was approved on the basis that it was within the White City Regeneration Area. Tall buildings are only permitted under LBHF Planning Policy and the Mayor’s London Plan if they are considered ‘appropriate’,  and are within one of four development areas identified in the Local Plan.

The proposed tower is located outside of the White City development area, which raises the questions: how are applications decided for tall buildings located outside, but adjacent to the outer boundary of development areas ? And whether approvals within development areas can be used as precedent to justify nearby developments outside of the area, that would otherwise not comply with planning policy ?