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change in market conditions brought about by the pandemic, the project had to be changed again:  the luxury hotel has been replaced by a student accommodation block with 730 rooms, maintaining the same development density as the first two schemes, but in a form which was to be acceptable to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

The incompatibility of these ambitions is reflected in the unsettling design which has emerged. On the Talgarth Road boundary, the principal block, now housing student rooms, is fatter and lower than before, but its upper right hand corner is broken away, to diminish its dominance in views from the residential areas to the south. This massing presents an uncomfortable profile, something of a left-over of the anticipated rectangular whole. The severity of the step-backs fragments the building geometry, and the lines of the terracotta coursing and the prominent circulation tower are insufficient to restore visual order. The built form is testament to the quandary set by the contradictory brief. However, the pixelated-style cladding proposed for the student block is an ingenious solution to create a lively, dynamic surface to mitigate the scale of the building, incorporating details which dissolve the identity of the windows, minimising the sense of overlooking which has been a cause of particular concern amongst the residents. The smaller scale tourist hotel which wraps around the south and west boundaries remains unchanged from the second application – as required by the developer – with its attractive, more domestic wall treatment in brick and terracotta.

Lack of a planning brief

It is disappointing that project circumstances have frustrated the goodwill and common purpose which have been evident in the development team. The planning process could have served the project better:  while being located in a regeneration area, there is no planning brief specific to the site, a brief which could have defined the acceptable development parameters, and could have settled issues of height, density, and the protection of neighbouring amenities from the outset. A planning brief would also deter the high sale values arising from over-optimistic development expectations,  which set the scene for excessive developments to maintain viability.

With the continuing delay in the issue of the Supplementary Planning Document for Hammersmith Town Centre, which has been in preparation since 2015, LBHF are losing the opportunity to influence important developments such as this to accord with their vision for the town centre.

Hammersmith Society comments
Developer’s website