Proposals for redevelopment of GlaxoSmithKline building recommended by Hounslow’s planners

CGI of plans for 980 Great West Road site by The Hadley Group

Whole new neighbourhood planned based on the shell of the old building

Plans for the redevelopment of the GlaxoSmithKline global headquarters at 980 Great West Road come before Hounslow Council’s Planning Committee on Thursday 5 March. The Council’s Planning department is recommending councillors accept the application for a new complex of shops, office, homes and entertainment venues.

The development promises two and a half thousand residential homes, purpose-built student accommodation and ‘shared living’ units, with communal spaces. Also outlined in the plans is a commercial offer with the potential to introduce bars and entertainment venues.

The creation of a whole new neighbourhood is part of the Council’s wider plans to develop the whole of the ‘Golden Mile’ along the A4 / M4 corridor with the ambition to turn it into the world’s largest creative tech innovation district.

Plans are already under way to develop the SEGA site and to transform the Gillette Building into a state-of-the-art virtual production, film studios, and technology centre, and the ‘vision’ for the development of the Golden Mile, involving the Council and a group of developers and businesses already in that area, has just been launched.

The developer of 980 Great West Road, Hadley Property Group, has been in talks with the Council for the past three years about how best to redevelop the GlaxoSmithKline site. They ran through 128 different options in the initial stages, from keeping the building more or less as it was, to total demolition, Hadley’s Communications and Impact Director Matt Griffiths-Rimmer told The Chiswick Calendar.

The GlaxoSmithKline building

Cluster of tall buildings up to 26 storeys high

Though it would have been nice to keep the iconic building more or less as it was, it was not really feasible for residential accommodation, he told me. They would have ended up with “long, tunnel-like apartments with a single aspect view, which would not have provided good quality accommodation”.

The proposal for 980 Great West Road whichh is going before the Planning Committee retains 90% the basement, and key structural elements of the GSK building.

“The glass facades are coming off”, said Matt.

“The main tower is being retained and we are using the five acres of basement for plant and parking and so on”.

The plans introduce a cluster of tall buildings up to 26 storeys with 1,522 residential homes, 506 purpose-built student accommodation units, and 296 ‘co‑living’ rooms. 20% of the homes will be ‘affordable’, intended for lower income households.

They also envisage five publicly accessible spaces between the buildings, which they are calling Gateway, Boston Place, The Lane, The Underside, and The Riverside, and a play space for children up to 11 years old.

The Gateway, as the name suggests, is the space where you would arrive from the Great West Road. Boston Place is the main plaza; The Lane, a pedestrian walkway through the complex; The Underside a ‘covered community/cultural space’ underneath the M4; and Riverside the landscape along the edge of the canal.

In all of this there will be just 46 car parking spaces and extensive cycle parking.

‘The Underside’

The Underside

The developer’s CGI impressions of how it will look make The Underside appear very attractive, but who would want to sit outside underneath the M4, with all that noise and pollution, I asked Matt.

“It is surprisingly quiet”, he told me. “It’s a much more peaceful environment than you would expect, and in terms of air polluiton, it’s below the motorway”.

The site is a 15 minute walk from Brentford High Street, bordered on one side by the Great West Road and commercial buildings, and on the others by Boston Manor Park and the canal.

“I think one of the reasons we haven’t had much opposition is that we don’t have any neighbours”, said Matt.

Public benefit considered greater than the ‘harm’ to surrounding architectural heritage

The Council’s planners support the application because it represents the regeneration of a major brownfield site which has been standing empty, providing homes and employment and ‘public realm’ landscaping. The development includes a GP surgery and a nursery.

They acknowledge that there is some harm done to nearby heritage assets in terms of the restriction of views, but consider this is ‘less than substantial’.

Hounslow’s planners say:

‘It is considered that the public benefits will outweigh the identified harm.

‘The proposal supports the Council’s ambition to deliver a sustainable community that provides economic, environmental, and social benefits to the area’.

Once the Council has made its decision the scheme will be referred to the Mayor of London’s office.

Hadley Property Group

Hadley Property Group is a privately-owned development company which is a certified B Corporation company, meaning they are recognised as being committed to higher standards of social and environmental performance.

They are a member of the GLA London Developer Panel 2, a group of developers, housing associations and contractors appointed by the Mayor of London to deliver housing on London’s publicly-owned land.

980 Great West Road is one of three major projects they currently have in hand, the others being IQL North alongside the Olympic Park in Stratford E209 and Blackwall Yard in Poplar, a development of 900 homes facing Greenwich.

Their flagship development already completed is Greenwich Square, which they progressed in partnership with Make Architects, Greenwich Council and the GLA, which won ndustry awards from magazines such as What House and Evening Standard.

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