Urban Design Strategy
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03 Urban Design Strategy Setting, context, and heritage • respect the surrounding urban grain, land use, building types and scale • celebrate the historic and distinctive architectural features of the area Liveable, lifetime neighbourhoods • a flexible block plan and street grid • a mix of dwelling types and sizes, including family housing • high quality shared and/or private amenity space for all residents • mansion blocks and some taller buildings (for private residential) • mixed-use development Permeability and connectivity • active street frontages • attractive routes to encourage walking and cycling • new east-west connections into RBKC • improved links over the Central Line cutting • new north-south routes connecting Westfield to Woodlands • new connections under the Hammersmith & City Line viaduct and the A40 • new connections between Westfield and Hammersmith Park through the BBC TV Centre site • improved connections throughout the town centre and with its hinterland • enhance links to Wormwood Scrubs Public realm • White City Green, a major new public open space • manageable, inclusive, safe and useable public realm • make use of the space under the Westway/A40 • enhance views of BBC TV Centre and make best use of the forecourt • maintain open space around the Hammersmith & City Line viaduct • reclaim the area to the north of Westfield from the tangle of roads and servicing facilities 54 White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework introduction text to follow Strategic context White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework Mayor of London 55 Existing green open space Proposed open space Proposed new deck OA boundary Proposed new green links/spaces Development opportunity Park Royal OA Kensal Canalside OA 1 A40 Latimer Road White City Wood Lane Shepherds Bush Market Shepherds Bush Goldhawk Road Earls Court OA 0 100 m 200 m 300 m 400 m 500 m Map 4.1 Urban design strategy, New green spaces and links Cities Revealed® copyright by The GeoInformation® Group, 2001 and Crown Copyright © All rights reserved. 56 White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework Local Context with Western Avenue. The West Cross Route was Historic Context then built to link the Westway gyratory with a new roundabout at Holland Park. Early Development 4.11 Television Centre continued to expand 4.6 The area mainly comprised farmland, until up until the 90s and the Olympic Stadium was the mid-1800s when the West London Line and demolished in 1985 to make way for the BBC White the Hammersmith & City Line were built to connect City One building and later, the two Media Village with the city. Largely due the new station linkages, buildings. the area around the green soon became a shopping and entertainment centre for west London with 4.12 The opening of Westfield in 2008 created new shopping parades, cinemas and theatres. a huge retail and leisure destination and provided Semi-detached villas and Victorian terraced housing a new station at Shepherds Bush which served began to line the streets beyond the common, Overground and Underground lines and a new creating a prosperous suburb of London. underground station was provided at Wood Lane. The first Olympic legacy 4.7 In 1908 the Franco-British Exhibition was held on grounds to the west of Wood Lane in buildings rendered in white painted stucco, from which the site got its name ‘White City’. That same year the area became a principal location for the Summer Olympics within a new stadium, where many athletic events were held and was the finishing line for the marathon. The stadium was later used for athletics, rugby, boxing, QPR Figure 4.3: 1. 1908 - White City Olympic Stadium and greyhound racing until the mid-1980s. A new underground station at Wood Lane catered for millions of visitors to the exhibition and games. 4.8 In the late 1930s the White City Estate was built on the western part of the exhibition grounds. The estate featured 2,000 homes in a series of 5-6 storey blocks. Post war development Figure 4.4: 2. 1908 - White City Exibition 4.9 After WWII, the BBC Television Centre and Hammersmith Park were built on the southern part of the exhibition grounds. The TV Centre was designed by Graham Dawbarn of Norman and Dawbarn Architects.A new Central Line underground station was built at White City to replace the earlier Wood Lane station in 1947. Between the Central Line Cutting and the West London Line (White City east), industrial uses developed and flourished. Figure 4.5: 3. White City Exibition: The Japanese gar- 4.10 The elevated Westway motorway was den, now in Hammersmith park built in the late 1960s to link Marylebone Road White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework Chapter 4 urban design strategy Mayor of London 57 ChapterChapter 0404 1: Olympic stadium (1908) 4: Shepherd’s Bush Entertainment Venues 2: Franco-British Exhibition buildings (1908) 5: Central Line Depot 3: Japanese garden 1 2 3 Figure 4.6: 1916 map of White City Opportunity Area (Source: LB H&F 58 White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework Heritage Assets 4.88 The DIMCO Building is Grade II Listed, which is a former electricity generating station built Conservation Areas in 1898 as the engine and boiler house to serve the Central Line. It is now the earliest example of an 4.83 Most of White City East is located within electricity generating station built for the London the Wood Lane Conservation Area. The Shepherds Underground Railway system. The generator closed Bush Conservation Area is located in the OA but in 1928 and the building was later used by the is centred at the south of the area around the Dimco power tool company. town centre and green which includes Shepherds Bush Market and surrounding residential areas. Beyond the Opportunity Area boundary features several Conservation Areas that are predominantly residential, including the nearby Old Oak and Wormholt Conservation Area and the Oxford Gardens Conservation Area in RBKC. 4.84 Conservation Area Character Profiles or Design Guides available for the conservation areas which set out the areas of special interest and prevailing character which will need to be Figure 4.11: A. Shepherd’s Bush green Source: LB H&F considered for preservation and enhancement of the area. Wood Lane Conservation Area (headline 4) 4.85 White City East is largely covered by this conservation area which comprises distinctly different building types and areas of character. The area is centred around BBC TV Centre, its concentric plan is one of its key features that is now famously identified. Other key features to mention are the White City London Underground Station, the Wood Lane Estate and the Figure 4.12: B. BBC TV centre Source: GLA Hammersmith Park. Buildings of Merit 4.86 The White City London Underground Station is designated a Building of Local Merit by the Council. Listed Buildings 4.87 The Grade II Listed BBC TV Centre is the most prominent of listed buildings in the area. The celebrated BBC Television Centre and Studio 1 has Figure 4.13: C. Restored DIMCO building Source: GLA historic interest as the country’s first purpose-built studio television complex. Its distinctive circular drum and contemporary detailing exemplified on the facade of Studio 1 is the area of special interest. White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework Chapter 4 urban design strategy Mayor of London 59 ChapterChapter 0404 Conservation Areas: Listed Building Area of special 1:interest Oxford GardensWood Lane conservation 5: Ingersoll area and Arminger 9: Coningham and Lime Grove Buildings of merit Conservation Area2: Old Oak and Shepherd’sWormholt Bush conservation 6: Norland area 10: Hammersmith Grove Listed Building Area of special interest Wood Lane conservation3: Wood Lane area 7: Shepherd’s Bush 11: Melrose Buildings of merit Conservation Area Shepherd’s Bush4: Avondale conservation Park Gardens area 8: Holland Park 12: Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road 1 2 3 4 B C 5 6 A 7 D 8 9 12 0 250m 500m 10 11 North Map 4.15: Conservation Areas & listed buildings © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. GLA (LA100032379) 2011 60 White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework Urban form and mansion blocks. Immediately north of the OA are a number of streets with consistent Victorian 4.89 White City today boasts iconic buildings, terrace dwellings. To the north-east is North a strong heritage of creative industry and leisure Kensington and the Oxford Gardens Conservation attractions, valued open spaces and landscapes, Area which features quality terraced housing, while and internationally renowned institutions. east but south of the Westway comprises the Stable 4.90 Wood Lane today is a key transport Way gypsy and traveller site which sits in a pocket corridor which acts as a principal gateway to the of land between the roads of the Westway. Beyond area. Many of the key commercial uses of the OA the OA boundary to the east are several clusters of are focused along this road, with the predominant residential towers in the Lancaster West, Silchester scale of development reflecting industrial and and Edward Woods estates which comprise 21- commercial uses. The grade II listed BBC TV 24 storeys. To the south and south west of the centre and the new BBC Media Village are the opportunity area, the area comprises a mix of dominant buildings along this part of Wood Lane housing around the town centre, predominantly at approximately 8 storeys, with the low rise Wood consisting of Victorian terrace housing. Lane Estate separating the two. Low rise office 4.93 Council estates make up a significant developments of 6-storeys and two tube stations part of the housing stock within the Opportunity sit on the east side of Wood Lane with large Area. The Wood Lane estate is a tightly packed warehouses and industrial sheds on large plots development of two to four storey townhouses of land behind.