There are big changes coming to Hammersmith in West London with the local council (LBHF) working on plans to transform the Town Hall and the surrounding streets. The original 1930s, Grade II-listed Town Hall is being refurbished with its heritage elements restored, and a new four-screen cinema will replace the demolished Cineworld on the Town Hall site, with room for cafes, shops and restaurants.
The town hall will be redeveloped as a civic campus with homework space for local children, start up space for local entrepreneurs, and a community activity space. There will be 204 new homes for local residents of which 52 per cent will be genuinely affordable
And to make these big changes happen, there’s lots of work going on in the background – like LBHF services relocating to offices in King Street, and a new location for the Quakers Friends Meeting House.
LBHF Office refurbs
Syntec Projects was engaged to carry out the phased refurbishment of an existing live council office in King Street and for the refurbishment of the LBHF operational offices. We worked around the clock with day and night shifts to achieve the timeframe of just 8 weeks. Handover meetings took place at the completion and commencement of each shift, discussing progress of works, goals for the shift, and feedback from LBHF and other stakeholders. As the services offices were live for staff and LBHF clients during the day, dust and noise levels had to be kept to a minimum, so we set up a mobile carpentry workstation that could be used externally during the day, then moved indoors at night.
Service offices 500sqm; Operational Offices 900sqm
Construction of new Quakers Friends Meeting House
A new location in Bradmore Park Road was found for the Quakers Friends Meeting House. Syntec Projects demolished the old Children’s Centre there and built an iconic drum shaped meeting room with space for a children’s area, library and offices. The new Meeting House is now used for worship, a range of educational and social activities and offers reasonably priced rooms for hire by local groups and organisations.
The Meeting House was designed to the highest standards of environmental sustainability and embodies the Quaker values of simplicity and equality. The design focuses on low energy construction and use, in line with the Quaker Organisation’s sustainability commitment. It was built using ICF (insulated concrete form), high levels of insulation, a HVAC system. Carefully located glazing and shading reduce heat gain and overheating, and solar panels on the meeting room roof support the energy demand. The Meeting House has a wildflower meadow and a calm, still interior, creating an urban oasis of peace.
Construction was briefly halted in March 2020 when the global pandemic disrupted most construction projects but we were able to safety continue working in May and the project was completed and handed over in September 2020.
And as for the rest of Hammersmith’s regeneration? The Hammersmith Civic Campus Scheme, which was voted the People’s Choice Winner in the New London Architecture (NLA) Awards 2020, will take three more years to complete.
