First look: almost 2,000 new riverside homes in former Fulham gasworks planned with food bank, youth club and allotments
Work starts next year on nearly 2,000 new homes in a series of towers of up to 37 storeys, with completion pencilled in for summer 2036.
The new homes come at the expense of a thriving “studio colony” which provided inexpensive workspace to some 300 small businesses including artists, makers and fashion designers.
The Old Gas Works has already been closed down, forcing these businesses to relocate.
The project will join a string of high-end developments lining the river in south-west London.
Tens of thousands of homes are under construction on former industrial land including the reboot of Lots Road Power Station in and around Chelsea Creek, joining established schemes such as Chelsea Harbour and Imperial Wharf.
Most of the gas holders on the 16-acre Imperial Road site will be demolished but one, which is Grade II* listed and claimed to be the world’s oldest, will be renovated as the centrepiece of a public park.
A total of 646 of the homes, about a third, will be classified “affordable” and ring-fenced for first-time buyers and priced-out local renters.
However, many young Londoners will not be able to afford these shared-ownership homes, aimed at buyers with household incomes of up to £75,000 for one-bedroom flats or £90,000 for two-bedroom flats.
Rents will be capped at £250 a week for one-bedroom flats, and £302 a week for two-bedroom flats.
The project, by Berkeley Group, will also include a youth club, a playground, allotments and — in a stark sign of the times — a food bank.
Hammersmith & Fulham’s planning committee approved the scheme after receiving an enthusiastic report by Jo Rowlands, strategic director of growth and place.
“The proposed development will transform a redundant gas works site to a high-quality new urban quarter,” said Rowlands.
Dozens of local residents and the Fulham Society objected to the plans.
The society said the project had some “laudable elements”, but it did not like the idea of fitting 1,800 homes on to a site 10 times the size of Trafalgar Square.
The society claimed the site would be overdeveloped, with any open spaces being in shadow of some very tall buildings.
Alison Dowsett, managing director of St William, the joint venture company set up by Berkeley and National Grid, which owns the site, to develop the gasworks, said: “We anticipate that we will receive interest not only from residents already living in the borough, but also from across London.
“The development at Fulham Gasworks will also include restoration of the heritage Grade II*-listed gas holder, which is the oldest in the world, as well as two Grade II-listed buildings and war memorials. Almost half of the site will be publicly accessible open space, with new pedestrian and vehicular access routes and a substantial new park, complementing the existing green space in the area. Work is expected to start on site in spring 2019.”