Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

St William plans 1,900-home redevelopment of Fulham Gasworks site

09 Nov 2015, 3:16 pm

A joint venture set up last year to build homes at disused gasholder sites in London and the south east of England plans to redevelop the site of the former Fulham Gasworks into a mixed-use scheme with up to 1,900 homes.

St William Homes, a 50:50 joint-venture between power network operator National Grid and housebuilder Berkeley Homes, submitted a scoping report to Hammersmith and Fulham Council last month, including indicative plans for the redevelopment of the site.

According to the report, St William intends to build a residential-led scheme with up to 1,900 homes and up to 15,000 square metres of employment and retail space. Most of the homes are intended to be apartments, with contemporary buildings up to 30 storeys in height proposed for the eastern part of the site.

Buildings on the western part of the site would be more traditional in design and smaller in scale, the report said. A "vibrant mixed use area" would be provided in the southern area of the site, with shops, businesses and a new public square. The indicative plans also include open spaces for residents and the public, with a new central park proposed for the northern area.

Full planning permission for the demolition of five redundant gasholders and several other buildings on the site was granted by the Council last year. The indicative plans would involve the demolition of most of the remaining buildings on the site, although four Grade II-listed heritage buildings would be "retained and integrated into the development proposal".

Planning expert Susanne Andreasen of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "This is an exciting proposal to come forward as one of the first since Berkeley and National Grid entered into a joint venture last year, with St William securing permission from Wandsworth Council for an 800-home redevelopment of former gasworks in Battersea earlier this year."

"The Fulham Gasworks site is part of Hammersmith and Fulham's planning framework for the South Fulham Riverside Regeneration Area and the scheme will be a key element to the overall redevelopment of the area," Andreasen said.

"National Grid's property portfolio includes a range of sites across London and the South East and it will be very interesting to see further proposals come forward from the St William venture, taking advantage of the benefits brought about by partnering one of the country's leading residential developers with such a major landowner as National Grid," Andreasen said.