Hammersmith Town Hall Extension report PDF - Greater London ...

scale buildings, built heritage and views. The draft replacement plan includes further detailed
design policy in Chapter 7.
Principle of tall building
24 London Plan policy 4B.9 supports tall buildings where they “create attractive landmarks
enhancing London’s character, help to provide a coherent location for economic clusters of related
activities and or act as a catalyst for regeneration and where they are also acceptable in terms of
design and impact on their surroundings”. The policy goes on to steer boroughs to identifying
suitable locations for tall buildings and that these “may include parts of the CAZ and some
Opportunity Areas”. Policy 4B.10 sets out the detailed design aspects of tall buildings.
25 Policy 7.7b and c of the draft replacement London Plan moves away from active
encouragement to careful management and covers various tests for the location and design of tall
and large-scale buildings. The context of the proposal is mostly three, four and five storeys high
with the main town hall extension up to seven storeys. The proposals include a range of building
heights up to 14 and 15 storeys, which is tall in its context. The are a limited number of similar
scale buildings in the wider context, this analysis is shown in section 2.5 of the design an access
statement, specifically figure 2.23 which shows the townscape diagram of building heights in the
wider context. It is evident from this analysis that the larger scale buildings are set to the east, but
that there is no emerging or defined cluster as such.
26 Policy 7.7d notes that tall buildings should “individually or as a group, improve the legibility
of an area, by emphasising a point of civic or visual significance where appropriate, and enhance
the skyline and image of London”. In principle, therefore, a tall building, which meets the civic
landmark function and contributes to legibility, may be appropriate, particularly in the town centre
location where it may facilitate the wider regeneration aspirations for this part of the town centre
by acting as a catalyst for regeneration as set out in policy 4B.9. This is however subject to the
detailed testing regarding impact on views and townscape and also the impact on the setting of
listed buildings and the character and appearance of the conservation area, which is considered
below.
Views and built heritage
27 London Plan policies 4B.11 to 4B.15 set out the strategic approach to the protection and
enhancement of London’s rich built heritage. The applicant provides an analysis of the built
heritage and townscape in chapter 9 and 10 of the Environmental Statement Volume 2. A number
of key views are assessed including the wider strategic views from the river. Although these views
are not part of the London View Management Framework, there are important strategic townscape
implications in the river views particularly from Hammersmith Bridge.
28 The analysis set out in figure 2.23 and 2.24 of the design and access statement seeks to
identify a tall building datum line in the view from Hammersmith Bridge. It helps in clarifying that
the prevailing building height is the lower line shown in the figure, but that there are some breaks
in the skyline from the Premier Inn hotel to the west and the existing town hall extension, central
in the view, with further breaks to the east. A tall building line is not entirely clear, but a break in
the view is established at various points and therefore the development could maintain this
relationship but should ensure that new additions do not overwhelm the surrounding context.
29 Having regard to the river prospect views in particular view 3 in chapter 10 of the
Environmental Statement Volume 2 (ESV2), it would appear that the scale of the 14 storey
residential block closest to the river (the south tower) requires reconsideration and further testing.
The prevailing townscape height along this view and along the river is much lower in scale. The
page 6