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.

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“

Nomination for a Wooden Spoon, 2025.

The Uxbridge road at its Shepherds Bush end has struggled for some years, and has been nominated for a wooden spoon in a number of respects this year, and by several people. There has been a significant amount of public interest and debate with the council, most recently a petition was put to the council to “Fix the Uxbridge Road”, and there’s been a proposal for a Business Improvement District for Shepherds Bush too. 

The list of issues are:

• Inappropriate retail frontages, often a downgrade on the former and perhaps more traditional frontages – a common problem nowadays throughout the borough – and one that we, and our members have campaigned for enforcement on for several years, as these developments often run contrary to the Local Plan.
• The state of the railway bridge, including its graffiti.
• Anti-Social behaviour.
• Problems with waste management – sacks of uncollected rubbish, often generated by retailers.

The council has agreed to take some actions as a result, detailed in the above cabinet report with petition details and here, and TfL are reported to have agreed to repaint the bridge.

Uxbridge road and environs. The two left-bottom images show predecessors to current frontages

Environment Award Winner, 2025.

Finely detailed brickwork is the feature in this new development on the corner of Macfarlane Road and Wood Lane opposite Westfield, designed by Maccreanor Lavington for Peabody Housing Association. It replaces the former BBC car park with a pair of appropriately-sized mid-rise buildings, providing 142 affordable homes in a mixture of shared ownership, London Affordable Rent and London Living Rent with 68 x 1 bed, 67 x 2 bed and 7 x 3-bed flats.

Macfarlane Place – H&C railway line – Westfield Living in the distance, TV centre tower under construction left

Macfarlane Place for Peabody Housing Association

Macfarlane Place – Wood Lane & public realm

Macfarlane Place – railway line

Macfarlane Place for Peabody Housing Association

Macfarlane Place – entrance

Macfarlane Place – brickwork shutters railings

Macfarlane Road – public realm

There are some echoes of the ‘warehouse chic’ of the 2023 award-winning Hoxton hotel just down the road, plus an echo of the red brick DIMCO buildings on the other side of Wood Lane, which were themselves nominated in 2021.

The use of materials is interesting, and although there is some fakery to the brickwork (common these days), the patterns are original, and the floor to ceiling windows and detailing lift the facades above the ordinary allowing it to not shout ‘social housing’.  Care has been used in the design, and as the RIBA journal notes, it has tenant-friendly touches such as heat-regulating shutters.  The shutters are said to have been designed to reduce overheating, eliminating the need for air conditioning and opening windows onto a potentially noisy Wood Lane, and the Hammersmith & City railway line immediately adjacent. There’s some interesting detailing internally too.  There are a few more photos on our Instagram

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.

Vice Chair Richard Winterton introduces the 2024 awards

Andy Cutts, Development Manager for Youngs Pubs receives 2024 Nancye Goulden Award for The Defectors Weld

Guest Speaker Sally Prothero of the London Historic Parks & Gardens Trust on “London’s parks and open spaces at risk”

Richard Winterton and Dr Nicola Stacey of HOLT

Guest Speaker Sally Prothero of the London Historic Parks & Gardens Trust on “London’s parks and open spaces at risk”

Dr Nicola Stacey of HOLT receives 2024 Tom Ryland Award for conservation of the Leaning Lady/woman

Alistair Maddox, White City Place client services director receives 2024 Nancye Goulden Award White City landscaping

Faye Davies of Burrell Foley Fischer receives 2024 Tom Ryland Award for Conservation of the Ravenscourt Park Tea House

Members gather at the 2024 AGM

Committee and former committee luminaries

(AGM Photos: Franco Chen. Click for full-size versions)

Summary

This year there were no suitable nominations for the main Environment Award, which is probably the result of limited major project starts during the pandemic. The projects of recent Environment Award winners had started before the pandemic, completing in the last year or two.

In keeping with a tradition that started in 2015 with The Dorsett, and continued through The Palladium in 2022 and The Hoxton in 2023 adjacent, we had another winner close by, on the opposite corner to The Lawn, The Defectors Weld, winning a Nancye Goulden Award for its newly restored facades.

Tree pit Hammersmith Grove

We broke the recent run of Jane Mercer guerrilla gardening awards this year with no nominations, but we’re pleased to see previous winners still going strong. It’s notable that the most popular picture on our Instagram a month ago was the properly permeable low cost ‘hoggin’ or gravel tree pit shown adjacent, a welcome addition to the Hammersmith streetscape, and something we’ve long campaigned for in preference to the council’s default, asphalt, helpfully despatched by last year’s Jane Mercer winners in several spots around the Askew Road. Wooden spoons were awarded to the council in four of the last eleven years for poor asphalt tree pits.

Our second Nancye Goulden award this year was for landscaping associated with the White City area regeneration. There are a number of excellent examples between and around the new buildings which significantly improve the streetscape. We particularly noted the space between the Ed City building and the new home of L’Oreal at Gateway Central – a popular lunchtime retreat.

In the last couple of years, there had been few candidates for the Tom Ryland Award for Conservation, but happily the tide turned this year, and we had three!  We awarded the Ravesncourt Park Tea House for the council’s careful restoration, and the well-known Leaning Lady statue, restored through the efforts of affiliate SPRA, Heritage of London Trust and the council.

Award winners 2024

Nancye Goulden Award, 2024.

The White City opportunity area has seen a great deal of development in recent years, first Westfield, then the award winning TV centre (2018), Imperial and now White City Place and EdCity. Although the architecture is somewhat mixed and will divide opinion, there are substantive public realm improvements now visible. The L’Oreal building and 1EdCity are especially noteworthy in having active façades.

Developed by education charity Ark in partnership with LBHF, 1EdCity is part of the EdCity campus which includes Ark White City Primary Academy (Ark Swift), community youth zone WEST, and 132 affordable homes.

Click on individual images for full-sized versions

Mayor presents Environment Award 2022 to Flanagan Lawrence [Jason Flanagan & Barbara Twine]

Mayor presents Nancye Goulden Award 2022 to Elder Press Cafe [Lindsay and Andrew Elder]

Mayor presents Jane Mercer Award 2022 to Green Project SB [ Maria Helena Scott ]

Mayor presents Jane Mercer Award 2022 to Green Project SB

Mayor and Nicholas Boys Smith at AGM 2022

NB Smith + Chairman Richard Winterton

The Palladium [ Photo: @sbcalling ]

Palladium Plaque

Elder Press Cafe

Sawley Road – Green Project nominated for Jane Mercer Award 2022

Hammersmith Society Chairman + former chairs

Full House at AGM 2022

Andy Slaughter MP at AGM 2022

Members view presentation boards at AGM 2022

members of Green Project at AGM 2022

(AGM Photos: Franco Chen. Click for full-size versions)

Summary

‘Gentle Density’

Our guest speaker was Nicholas Boys Smith, of CreateStreets, and the CreateStreets Foundation, who gave an inspiring presentation, showing why we don’t need 55 storey towers to solve housing problems, and that real people prefer what CreateStreets refer to as “gentle density”.

The Environment Award was given to The Palladium on Shepherds Bush Green. We visited it earlier this year and were impressed with the design quality provided by the same architects, Flanagan Lawrence, who transformed the Dorsett next door, and to whom we also gave our Environment Award in 2015.  This area of the borough has seen significant improvements in the last few years, and we hope that the hotel currently under construction on the North side of the Dorsett lives up to the high standards set.

Unfortunately this year there were no projects of the right type or scale nominated for the Tom Ryland Award for Conservation.

The Nancye Goulden Award was given to the Elder Press Café which recently opened in South Black Lion Lane, W6. This conversion has been carried out with unusual care and sensitivity – the shop window is retained to bring life and light which animates this little street and the builder’s yard is brought back to life as an outside seating area with fine new timber gates thrown open during the day.

For the first time in several years we presented the Jane Mercer Award for “proactive co-operation, collaboration and communication”. The Green Project, Shepherds Bush provided exactly this, an initiative setup by local residents to make the neighbourhood around Sawley Road W12 greener, and at the same time to bring the community together.

Wooden spoons were awarded to the council for a failure to fully engage with their own green agenda by keeping new street trees alive and overseeing the generally inadequate tree pits partly responsible, which were similarly awarded in 2013, 2014, and 2015; and for an unfortunate lack of inclusivity afforded by the King Street Cycleway, C9, with everyone but cyclists losing out unnecessarily, some significantly.

Zero carbon homes are very much on-topic with the COP26 summit approaching in November, but to date rather more discussion has been around standards for newbuilds, downplaying the fact that by most measures 70-80% of the planned “net zero homes of 2050” are already built, 9-inch solid walls, warts and all.  “Decarbonising” them is now exercising government, councils, the RIBA and industry at many levels.

UK Domestic energy

You’ll probably have heard of plans to eliminate natural gas boilers by 2025 – certainly in newbuilds – but my house and yours won’t be so far behind.  Domestic energy use represents about 27% of UK energy consumption, with 85% of that apparently used for heating & hot water – as significant in climate effect as the usual suspects – cars and planes.

Brian’s home in Hammersmith

You may also be familiar with Tom Pakenham’s Passivhaus in Lena Gardens W6 from a few years ago, which sets a formidable standard for whole-house renovation with huge attention to detail to achieve the required standard.

But what if you took an existing Edwardian terraced family home in 2021, and made it zero carbon while living in it, but without gutting the interior, or adding 100+mm of hard insulation to the inside of all the external walls, ripping up the floors to insulate them, and possibly compromising or losing some of the period features we appreciate?  This is what our member Brian Thresh is doing – you may have seen him present the project at London Climate Action week in June.  He shows that it can be less intrusive than we might fear.

Let’s be honest for a moment, there are only so many builders in the world, and so many hours in the day, there is little practical chance of all the country’s millions of homes being laboriously superinsulated in the next few years – after all we’ve been talking about insulation for 40+ years already.  Brian expects to be able to demonstrate that his home is zero carbon, once the annual numbers roll in, through the combination of:

• Replacement of a gas boiler with a substantial 12kW air-source heat-pump
• 6.6kW of solar cells
• Battery storage
• A green & flexible electricity tariff, using a smartmeter

There’s an interesting tension here between expenditure on craftsmanship – a well designed and precisely executed complete refurbishment often with specialist materials – the Passivhaus – and the retrofit of a period home using modern mass-produced technology to achieve a similar net result, but with significantly less upheaval. 

It seems likely that the latter will prevail for the majority because of the numbers described above, with as much of the former as is practicable on the existing housing stock, but how do the finances and carbon footprint compare: Conversion / Running / Whole life?  Much of the public discussion is around carbon, and saving on everyday bills; rather less – a lot less – on Total Cost of Ownership, or Net Present Cost, important for those with shallower pockets. As Brian says, this stuff doesn’t come cheap at the moment.  It will be instructive to assess and compare over the years to come, particularly as technology improves, such that an optimised mix of solutions can be provided for each domestic setting.  Solar cells have already improved significantly, but you may not have owned any yet !

Cllr Colin Aherne [photo: LBHF]

Councillor Colin Aherne, a long serving member of the Council’s Labour Group, has died after suffering a heart attack last month. Colin had a remarkable record of public service with LBHF: he was councillor for White City & Wormholt, and served on both the planning committee and the licensing committee for 35 years.

He was chair of governors of Wormholt Primary School for over 30 years. Born in 1944 in Tredegar, South Wales, initially opting to join the army rather than go down the mines, he was elected to the Council in 1986, soon becoming chief whip to the Labour group. His death is a great loss for the borough.

There’s a longer tribute on the council’s website, and an obituary in the Guardian.