Cllr Stephen Cowan (pictured centre) with members of the Civic Campus Commission and the Disabled People’s Commission inspecting the progress of demolition work at the Hammersmith Town Hall Extension
Work has begun on the Civic Campus that will breathe new life into King Street and reinvent the concept of the Town Hall to make it exciting and relevant for the people it serves.
The new civic campus includes a new cinema, new performance space for an orchestra and genuinely affordable new homes for local people. The scheme will also offer homework space for young people, a roof-top public bar and cafe, public art gallery space, and a new public square. The project will also save public money by making a profit and delivering significantly better value office space.
Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham, said: “We wanted to get away from the traditional image of Town Halls as distant, dusty municipal buildings and instead build an exciting new civic campus which welcomes residents and provides facilities that lifts the neighbourhood up and which people can enjoy. We are reinventing the Town Hall and putting our philosophy of ‘doing things with residents, not to them’ at the heart of the design.”
As well as including cutting-edge environmental technology in its redesign, the Civic Campus is also set to become one of the most accessible series of buildings anywhere in the world.
Stephen Cowan added: “Whereas the previous scheme from 2013 would have made a loss, this one makes a profit and will save public money by cutting office costs.”
Local residents from the Civic Campus Commission and the Disabled People’s Commission, who have spearheaded the redesign, joined Stephen to witness the start of the demolition of the six-storey Town Hall extension which was added to the original Town Hall in the early seventies. The demolition was completed in 2020.
The scheme is being delivered through a joint venture partnership between H&F Council and A2Dominion. A2Dominion is a residential property group with a social purpose, providing high-quality new homes to meet a wide range of needs.
Richard Winterton, Chair of the independent Civic Campus Commission commented: “The development team have created a wonderful design, which creates a new civic centre for the borough and breathes new life into the west end of King Street. And the Town Hall Extension will soon be gone!”
Jane Wilmot from the independent Disabled People’s Commission said: “This scheme put the advice from our report, Nothing About Disabled People Without Disabled People, at the very heart of how it operated. Our co-production meant the architects we able to hear first-hand what barriers Disabled people face from the start. Problems were identified early, which saved time and money, and will give us a world-class building that is accessible for everyone – including Disabled people – because the goal was always to go well beyond the legislative standards and create something that sets the mark.”
Beautiful design
Architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners worked with the Civic Campus Commission from the start to ensure the new environmentally positive designs met the needs of local people and added to the beauty of the original Grade II-listed Town Hall which was built between 1938 to 1939.
The independent Disabled People’s Commission also worked alongside the architects to ensure the new building met the high standards recommended in their report.
New Civic Campus
The Civic Campus scheme will also see the following:
- a new four-screen cinema, with room for cafes, shops and restaurants built on the existing cinema and car park site
- 204 new homes for local residents of which 52 per cent will be classified as genuinely affordable
- new performance space for an orchestra and other performances
- a new public rooftop bar and café
- new affordable, flexible office spaces for local start-up entrepreneurs
- new homework spaces for children and students
- inclusively designed buildings to ensure full access for Disabled people
- eco-friendly buildings to minimise our carbon footprint and cut fuel bills.
- public art gallery space
- a new public square
- significantly better value office space.
The scheme will see Hammersmith transformed for local residents for the better.
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