The King Street regeneration project, developed by King Street Developments (KSD) Hammersmith, a joint venture between Grainger and Helical Bar, took off after London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF) Council’s planning applications committee gave it a go-ahead in November 2013.
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KSD collaborated with architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands (LDS) through the entire design process. The total cost of the regeneration project is estimated to be around £150m ($247.20m). KSD will provide £5.25m ($8.649m) for the project.
The owner, Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council, began planning the project in 2005, noticing the stagnant economic activity around the Town Hall area, high facilities management costs, inefficiency of the Town Hall’s internal layout and desire to provide a combined location for key council staff.
King Street regeneration project design and construction details
The project primarily involves the refurbishment of the Town Hall Extension and the Grade-II listed Town Hall. The surrounding areas will be regenerated by providing new offices for the council, 196 residential houses, a new three screen cinema, shops, restaurants and bars, and a new public town square. In addition, the project will include ancillary works such as landscaping, car parking and pedestrian/cycle ways.
The project site covers an area of approximately 1.44ha and is bounded to the north by King Street, to the east by Riverside Gardens, to the south by the Town Hall and the A4/Great West Road, and to the west by the Thomas Pocklington Trust properties.
The project initially involves partial demolition of the Town Hall Extension, demolition of the cinema on King Street, the registry office, and Friends Meeting House car park located on Nigel Playfair Avenue and Hampshire Hog Lane, to accommodate the new developments.
The new town square will be located outside Hammersmith Town Hall and behind the Town Hall extension building. The Town Hall extension building will partially be demolished and rebuilt, incorporating a nine metre glass gateway through to the public piazza behind, bringing the Town Hall back into the view from King Street. The Town Hall building and the new residential buildings will have exteriors with textured brick cladding and glazing.
The three-screen community cinema will be operated by Curzon and will be located within the redeveloped Town Hall extension. It will be complimented by new retail, restaurant and cafe space in the ground floor.
The replacement council offices will be constructed to the west of Nigel Playfair Avenue, on the corner of King Street, featuring a clock tower, and include a small food retail store at ground floor level.
The previous development plan, which included taller buildings, was withdrawn after being referred to the Mayor of London in December 2011. None of the new buildings planned in the present scheme will be taller than the current eight-storey town hall extension; the council’s office space would be reduced by half, and the Thomas Pocklington Trust buildings will be retained.
Contractors involved with the King Street regeneration project
GVA Second London Wall Project Management is the project manager. London Communications Agency will be the projects communications consultants, and Jones Lang LaSalle will act as the planning consultant.
Pre-planning consultation support and strategic communications advice to the developer’s proposals were provided by M&N.
Benefits of King Street regeneration project to citizens
The regeneration project is expected to generate approximately 1,000 new jobs in the area, and result in savings to the tune of £150,000 ($246,918), owing to reduced energy costs and the council retaining the freehold of the land.
Other developments along King Street will also complement the project, include a two-storey extension behind the theatre, which is currently underway. This will put up the latest facilities, and the Kings Mall shopping centre, which is experiencing a revival as retailers, such as H&M, are setting up shops.
A nine-storey office block belonging to the Hammersmith Grove is also open and an 11-storey building is coming next to it, which will create new student accommodation on the earlier site of Hammersmith Palais.
