Out-Law News 1 min. read
24 Aug 2012, 2:53 pm
The application was submitted to the London Borough of Hillingdon and proposes a £250m mixed use development including up to 510 residential units, up to 7,886 square metres of new office floorspace, up to 4,000 sq m of retail & leisure uses, an energy centre, car parking and new landscaping.
The joint venture bought the 17 acre London Gate business park in April 2011 and has since been developing a masterplan for the site. The plans include the demolition of up to 12,643 square metres of existing buildings and construction of up to 112,953 square metres of new floorspace, including the reuse of the Power House and Pressing Plant.
Cathedral Group has called the redevelopment "radical" and said that it "pays homage to its important history" by "celebrating the unique heritage" of the area. The proposed masterplans are intended to "transform The Old Vinyl Factory into a thriving new mixed-use neighbourhood for Hayes with beautiful streets, squares and public places," it said.
The area will host a new cinema and restaurant complex, new cafes and shops along a new pedestrian walkway, which is being called The Groove by the developer. This will connect Hayes town centre to the site. It is also the intention to provide a new museum explaining the history and importance of HMV/EMI to the area.
Planning permission was received in February 2012 for the first phase of the wider masterplan, to develop The Gatefold Building at the east end of the site. The Gatefold Building development will provide 132 new homes, workshop units for start-up businesses, a new cafe and community space. The developer intends to commence works on this part of the site by the end of 2012.
The site's musical history began at the turn of the 20th Century when it was acquired by the Gramophone and Typewriter Company, the company which went on to become EMI, as a home for His Masters Voice (HMV). At the height of record pressing operations in the 1960s, the site housed 14,000 workers.
