Nomination for a Wooden Spoon, 2026.

We received several nominations for the Town Hall redevelopment, these are split – generally positive towards the opening up and refurbishment of the GII listed Town Hall itself and its new piazza, but rather less so of the RSHP-designed scheme around it. There’s a separate Nancye Goulden nomination for the Piazza.

Nominating members reserved particular opprobrium for the unnecessary renaming of the Town Hall as ‘Civic Campus’, now officially ‘The Civic Campus, 1 Unity Square, London, W6 9JU’, lit up 24 x 7 in signage unseen in any planning CGI, as if to deny its documented heritage. Nigel Playfair Avenue has also been stripped of character as the generic ‘Civic Avenue’, and an unmistakable reflection of recent political messaging appears in the name ‘Unity Square’, particularly egregious since an obviously nonpolitical ‘Hammersmith Square W6’ or even ‘Town Hall Square W6’ have long been available.

Name changes did not see public scrutiny, the news reminding us that recent similar moves in other parts of the world have received an equally poor reception, and that closer to home, we have become unwitting bedfellows with two other boroughs, both with their own chequered histories – Newham and Bromley.

Civic Campus AKA Town Hall

Civic Avenue AKA Nigel Playfair Avenue

Despite the welcome provision of some affordable housing in the scheme, according to the nominations, there are too many unnecessary own-goals in a project that promised so much. In summary:

• The addition of the glass canopy over the roof, which was a close call for Historic England, who demanded it reduced in scale. There are professionals and others concerned with heritage that still regard this addition as inappropriate, however pleasant a sky garden may be.
• The egg-crate glass frontage to King St is unnecessarily brutal, excessively tall in its context, and lacks respite, contrasting poorly with the faded Edwardian elegance of Cromwell mansions adjacent (building of merit), which is less than half the height and completely overwhelmed. This issue of a clear lack of respect for the adjacent townscape, in direct contravention to the council’s own Local Plan (5.4, HRA1 : “ensure building height is generally consistent with the existing height in the townscape”), was also recorded at the 2018 public consultation, and unheeded.
• Primary colours used in the scheme – the overwhelmingly dominant one, a startlingly bright red, described in at least one nomination as ‘orange-red’, more orange anyway, than a passing London bus.
  Being charitable, one could say that it matches architect Ernest Webber’s Neo-Georgian red brick, intended as a “joyful colour” with “contemporary continuity” according to the architect, but it clearly doesn’t, and this is of course a trademark of the late Richard Rogers, and his practice RSHP, whose choice of somewhat childish colours is often divisive, including in this scheme with its blue, green and yellow also – not the ‘timelessly beautiful’ hues perhaps found in the Farrow and Ball catalogue – these are likely to age quickly. 
  A quiet word in the architect’s ear, recorded at the 2018 public consultation, ‘a little bit of red goes a long way’ was comprehensively ignored. The same colour was used on the real terracotta facings on the flats facing the A4, causing one architectural critic to note it as ‘an example of how to make a high quality material look cheap, which is quite a feat’. Some suggest the newbuild aesthetic (by Ryno systems) is reminiscent of a 1990s business park or value-engineered student housing block.
• The painted and scribed asphalt ‘paving’ on the south side of King Street, between Cromwell Avenue and the Town Hall. This is the first time we’ve seen a high-traffic public pavement painted, and it looks like the last gasp of the developer going bust, trying the finish the job without paying for paving stones, and a particularly stark contrast to the composite York stone paving immediately adjacent, laid under a previous administration.  A ha’peth of tar that surely must be temporary?
• The clock, which can only be seen from afar, and then only barely, due to its intricate design. This is a place where boldness and good lighting really would have helped.
• The apparent unnecessary politicised branding of the scheme: including unwise incorporation of an excessively dominant colour and nomenclature that could be read as such.

Click for full-size images

Town Hall – Red balconies

Town Hall Clock Studland Street

Painted pavement

Civic campus colours

Town Hall-Cromwell Mansions

Cromwell Mansions