Hammersmith Road to Gain New 'Urban Village Hall'

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Among plans for green redevelopment of town centre building

A visualisation from the developer of the new building on Hammersmith Road

March 11, 2024

Hammersmith town centre is set to gain a new ‘Urban Village Hall’ in the former head office of beauty company L’Oreal, on the corner of Hammersmith Road and Butterwick.

The proposed village hall is part of a plan to redevelop the ten storey building, directly opposite Hammersmith Broadway. It will be on the ground floor, with access to an adjoining landscaped garden and will be available for a range of community events.

The building, 255 Hammersmith Road was first developed in 1975, and became home to L’Oreal in 1998. In October last year L’Oreal moved out to new larger premises in White City and the building was acquired by Fore Partnership for £58 million.

Now the new owner is planning a comprehensive retrofit, refurbishment, partial demolition and extension of the existing office building.

CGI of the the new 'village hall' which will be part of the scheme

The refurbishment will include the facade, replacing the glazing on the two north and south ‘cores’ with distinctive recycled green jade glass panels.

There will be new terrace areas across the first, second, ninth and tenth floors, a new roof space including a garden which may also be available to the local community and a new protected bike storage area.

The company says biophilia and urban rewilding are key themes and as well as the potential to add a third of an acre rooftop garden, there will be air-purifying plants throughout, with plans including a living wall in reception and new planting and landscaping around the exterior.

A visualisation of the aerial view of the building from planning documents

Fore Partnership has included Urban Village Halls in other developments, describing them as “ a modern interpretation of the historic community hall, which serves as a multi-use space with flexibility to adapt alongside community needs.”

Potential uses could include public talks and discussions, installation space for art and promotions, charity pop-up events, screening films of interest to local people, space for schools to use, community classes, local performances or pop-up exhibitions.

CGI of the rooftop garden of the building

Fore Partnership has submitted a planning application to H&F Council for the redevelopment which can be seen in full on the council website using the reference 2023/03134/FUL.

The application, which is open for comments, is for:

Substantial refurbishment and partial demolition of existing building including retrofit of existing facade; construction of new 9th floor and set back 10th floor to provide new office floorspace with external terracing; creation of an Urban Village Hall shared amenity space at ground floor level; partial extension of ground floor reception to provide level access; creation of internal courtyard; provision of external terraces; provision of new rooftop plant; plus associated landscaping, servicing, cycle parking and changing facilities as well as other associated works.

There is also more information at the dedicated website.

These plans will provide a further boost to the thriving business area to the east of Hammersmith Broadway which already includes neighbouring building 245 Hammersmith Road, with its own terraces and roof space, two popular restaurants on the ground floor and and a public urban park and plaza.

 

 

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