Council Announces New Brief for King Street Regeneration
Bridge scrapped and lower building height guaranteed
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has unveiled a revised brief to regenerate the rundown area around Hammersmith Town Hall.
As part of the updated plan to breathe new life into the west end of King Street, the council says it now requires only half the amount of office space that was included in the previous brief.
This is due to a combination of more flexible working, reductions in council spending and outsourcing of some services. In addition to the 'Tri-borough' initiative, which sees H&F working in collaboration with two neighbouring councils and has resulted in the number of senior and middle managers being reduced by nearly 50%.
The council signalled a radical rethink of the regeneration plans in June this year when the new leader, Cllr Nicholas Botterill, announced an eight storey height limit on any new buildings.
And now the council has gone further by outlining a new set of parameters for the scheme - which the council’s development partner, King Street Developments Ltd (KSD), is using to work up new design ideas for consultation with residents.
Some key components remain including the creation of a new public square; opening up the historic northern façade of the Grade II listed old Town Hall, while improving access, and building new homes and retail/restaurant space. The new parameters also now include:
- A cast iron guarantee that the tallest building will not be higher than the current town hall extension (equivalent to eight residential storeys).
- The creation of a £1million regeneration fund for improvements to buildings in this stretch of King Street.
- Halving the replacement council office space requirement from the previous scheme to around 45,000 square feet.
- No bridge over the A4 Talgarth Road into Furnivall Gardens.
- Considering the option to include a cinema within the scheme.
- No need for the relocation of Thomas Pocklington tenants.
- Exploring the inclusion of buildings to the north of the town hall next to King Street flanking the new public square.
- Reconsidering the architectural approach to the design
Cllr Nicholas Botterill, H&F Council Leader, says: “We have listened and learned from the less popular elements of the previous scheme and updated the parameters of the project brief so that the best elements are retained and the least popular elements are no longer included.
“Thanks to years of efficiency savings and now Tri-borough working, we are now able to halve the amount of municipal office space that we require in the revised scheme.
“We are now working closely with our development partners and their architects to come up with attractive new design ideas for consultation with residents. These designs need to fulfil the project brief and achieve the main aim of breathing much-needed new life into this rundown part of our town centre.”
December 4, 2012
