Earls Court Project. London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham Application 2. Non-Technical Summary. Prepared for EC Properties Ltd by URS.

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Prepared for EC Properties Ltd

by URS

June 2011

Earls Court Project

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

Application 2

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Earls Court Project Application 2 | London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham | Environmental Statement Non-Technical Summary | June 2011

Properties

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Cover Letter

Planning Application Forms (including Notices and Certificates)

Planning Application Fee

Development Specification

Parameter Plans

Access Plans

Community Engagement Report

Design and Access Statement

Design Guidelines

Planning Statement

Environmental Statement

• Non-Technical Summary

• Volume 1: Main Technical Chapters

• Volume 2: Townscape and Visual Impact Assessment (incorporating PPS5 Heritage Assessment)

• Volume 3: Technical Appendices

Transport Assessment

Retail and Leisure Assessment

Office Assessment

Housing Statement

Sustainability Strategy

Energy Strategy

Waste Strategy

Utilities and Services Infrastructure Strategy

Cultural Strategy

Estate Management Strategy

Conservation Area Consent Application Documents

• Cover Letter

• Application Forms (including Notices and Certificates)

• Plans and Drawings

• Design and Access Statement

• Planning Statement

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Properties

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Contents

Introduction

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The Planning Application

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The EIA Process

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EIA Scoping and Consultation

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Cumulative Impact Assessment

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The Existing Site

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Description of the Site Surroundings

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Listed Buildings & Conservation Areas

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Alternatives and Design Evolution

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The Earls Court Masterplan

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The Earls Court Development Proposals

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Planning Policy Context

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Deconstruction, Demolition and Construction

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Socio-Economics 27

Traffic and Transportation

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Wind (Microclimate)

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Daylight, Sunlight and Overshadowing

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Electronic Interference

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Buried Heritage Assets (Archeology)

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Ground Conditions

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Water Resources, Drainage and Floor Risk

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Demolition & Construction

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Air Quality

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Noise and Vibration

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Townscape and Visual Assessment

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Non-Technical Summary

Planning Application 2 - LBHF

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Introduction

1.1 This document provides a Non-Technical Summary (NTS) of the Environmental Statement (ES) of the Earls Court

Development Proposals for the Earls Court Site (Figure 1).

1.2 The Earls Court Site has an area of 23.16 hectares (ha) and is bounded to the east by Warwick Road, to the south by the

Lillie Road / Old Brompton Road, to the west by the North End Road and to the north by the A4/Talgarth/West Cromwell Road corridor.

1.3 The Earls Court Site forms part of the Earls Court & West Kensington Opportunity Area (ECWKOA) as defined by the Draft

Replacement London Plan. The area is identified as “a reservoir of brownfield land with significant capacity to accommodate new housing, commercial and other development linked to existing or potential improvements to public transport accessibility”. Figure 2 presents an aerial photograph of the ECWKOA.

1.4 In addition, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) Core Strategy (which was adopted in 2010) identifies the

Earls Court Exhibition Centre as a site of strategic importance. The RBKC Core Strategy states that “the site has considerable potential” and that within the “Royal Borough it is anticipated that the scheme will be residential led,” however, “the full development capacity and the exact disposition of uses across the site should be considered as part of the spatial planning for the Opportunity Area.”

1.5 The RBKC Core Strategy acknowledges that by “bringing together the Earls Court Exhibition Centre Site with the wider

Earls Court Site, a comprehensive mixed use scheme can be achieved across the ECWKOA to provide housing, employment, hotel, leisure, offices, health, social and community facilities, with shops for day to day needs of the development and complement the existing neighbouring centres.”

1.6 Two outline planning applications have been submitted for the Earls Court Site. These are referred to as Planning

Applications 1 and 2. Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrate the Planning Application redline boundary plans for Planning Applications 1 and 2 respectively.

1.7 Planning Application 1 relates only to land within the RBKC and Planning Application 2 relates mostly to land within the

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (LBHF) however it also includes a small area of land within the RBKC (Figure 3 and 4). Together, Planning Applications 1 and 2 propose the Earls Court Development Proposals and constitute the redevelopment of the Earls Court Site.

1.8 The Earls Court Development Proposals involve the redevelopment of land and buildings, including the deconstruction,

demolition and alteration of existing buildings and structures. The Earls Court Development Proposals comprise the following uses: retail; office; hotel; serviced apartments; private hospital/medical facility; residential; community, culture and education; leisure; areas for servicing and storage; areas for machinery associated with the development, waste and utilities infrastructure (including energy centres); landscaping and open space; parking for vehicles (including cars, bicycles, motorcycles); creation of new accesses for pedestrians and vehicles (including internal routes and road layout); alterations to existing highway layout; alterations to the existing Transport for London (TfL) / London Underground Limited (LUL) depot; structures for building over existing rail lines and tunnels; and all necessary works to prepare the Earls Court Site for development (e.g. hoarding, erection of temporary structures etc.).

1.9 The Earls Court Development Proposals also includes the redevelopment and renewal of the West Kensington and Gibbs

Green Housing Estates. A summary of the Earls Court Development Proposals is provided at Page 6 to 17 of this NTS.

The Planning Application

1.10 The ES has been prepared in support of an outline planning application. An outline planning application allows fewer

details about the proposal to be submitted to the local planning authority / authorities for approval. An outline planning application allows the detail to be agreed following a “reserved matters” application at a later stage. This Planning Application seeks approval of the details provided, at this stage, in relation to:

• Access into and out of the Earls Court Site; and • The amount and uses of development proposed.

1.11 The Planning Application “reserves the detail of” or seeks outline approval, at this stage, in relation to:

• Layout – the way in which buildings and open spaces are laid out; • Scale – the height, width and length of each building;

• Appearance – the look of the buildings,, their architecture, materials, decoration, lighting, colour, texture, etc; and • Landscaping

Figure 1 The Earls Court Site

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Non-Technical Summary

2 Figure 3 Planning Application 1 Redline Boundary

Figure 4 Planning Application 2 Redline Boundary

The EIA Process

1.12 Given the scale of the Earls Court Development Proposals and their potential for impacts on the environment, it is

recognised that the Earls Court Development Proposals constitute an ‘Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) development’ under the Town and Country (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999 (as amended 2008).

1.13 The ES is designed to inform readers of the nature of the Earls Court Development Proposals, the likely environmental

impacts and the measures proposed to protect the environment and/or reduce any significant adverse impacts.

1.14 The ES considers the likely impact of the Earls Court Development Proposals on its neighbours, local environment, local

and regional economy and the wider area. Beneficial and adverse, short and long-term (temporary and permanent), direct and indirect and cumulative impacts have been assessed. The significance of residual impacts (impacts remaining after mitigation) is evaluated with reference to definitive standards, accepted criteria and legislation where available. Where it has not been possible to quantify impacts, qualitative assessments have been carried out, based on expert knowledge and professional judgement. In order to provide a consistent approach within the ES, the following terminology has been used to define residual impacts:

• Adverse - Detrimental or negative impacts to an environmental/socio-economic resource or receptor;

• Negligible - Imperceptible impacts to an environmental/socio-economic resource or receptor;

• Beneficial - Advantageous or positive impact to an environmental /socio-economic resource or receptor; and

• No Impact: No impact to an environmental /socio-economic resource or receptor

1.15 Where adverse or beneficial impacts have been identified these have been assessed against the following scale:

• Minor;

• Moderate; and

• Major.

1.16 The ES comprises:

• ES Volume I – Environmental Statement: This document presents the findings of the EIA and is divided into a number of background and technical chapters supported with figures and tabular information for clarity of reading;

• ES Volume II –Townscape and Visual Impact Assessment Incorporating PPS5 Heritage Assessment: This document comprises a stand-alone Townscape and Visual Assessment accompanied by a set of views and images of the Earls Court Development Proposals;

• ES Volume III – Appendices: This document provides detail on the assessments undertaken and information used to inform Volume I of the ES; and

• Non-Technical Summary (NTS): A stand alone document, providing a concise description of the Earls Court Development Proposals, the alternatives considered; the anticipated environmental impacts and mitigation measures in non-technical language.

EIA Scoping and Consultation

1.17 Scoping forms the first stage of the EIA process and it is through Scoping that the LBHF has been consulted on those

environmental aspects that may be significantly impacted by the Earls Court Development Proposals, and so should be included in the EIA. A Scoping Opinion received from the LBHF in June 2011 has been taken into account during the preparation of the ES.

1.18 In addition to the EIA Scoping exercise, the EIA has included an extensive programme of consultation, which has informed

the Earls Court Development Proposals and the EIA methodology. Views of statutory and non-statutory consultees have served to focus the studies and have assisted in identifying those issues which require further investigation. Consultation has also enabled mitigation measures to be introduced during the project design process.

1.19 Key consultees involved in the evolution of the Earls Court Development Proposals design and preliminary assessment of

environmental impacts include, but are not limited to:

• The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF); • The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC);

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3 • The LBHF Primary Care Trust (PCT);

• The RBKC Primary Care Trust (PCT); • Greater London Authority (GLA); • English Heritage (EH);

• London Development Agency (LDA); • The Environment Agency (EA); • Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL); • Transport for London (TfL);

• London Underground Limited (LUL); • Network Rail;

• London City Airport (LCY); • The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA);

• Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL) – formerly the London Wildlife Trust (LWT); • Natural England (NE);

• Royal Parks; • Metropolitan Police;

• London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority; and • Local residents and groups.

Cumulative Impact Assessment

1.20 A cumulative impact assessment has been undertaken as part of the EIA which assesses the impact of the Earls Court

Development Proposals in combination with the potential environmental and socio-economic impacts of other development schemes in the area.

1.21 By definition, cumulative impacts are those that result from changes caused by other past, present or reasonably

foreseeable actions together with the Earls Court Development Proposals. For the cumulative assessment, two types of impact have been considered:

• The combined effect of individual impacts, for example noise, airborne dust or traffic; and

• The combined impacts of several development schemes which may, on an individual basis be insignificant but, cumulatively, have a significant impact.

1.22 Although cumulative impact assessments usually only address other development schemes that have been granted

planning permission, the ES has also taken into account, within the cumulative impact assessment, schemes that are at the planning application stage and the currently emerging Seagrave Road Development Proposals as the Seagrave Road Site is a key site for redevelopment within the ECWKOA (Figure 2).

1.23 Therefore, to summarise, the following Cumulative Impact Assessment Scenarios have been considered:

• The Earls Court Development Proposals PLUS other development schemes; and

• The Earls Court Development Proposals PLUS the Seagrave Road Development Proposals PLUS other development

schemes.

1.24 The location of these schemes is shown on Figure 5.

1.25 The Townscape and Visual Impact Assessment Incorporating PPS5 Heritage Assessment (ES Volume II) includes a

number of these schemes in addition to more distant schemes in the cumulative impact assessment, as visual impacts are far reaching.

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Non-Technical Summary

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The Existing Site

1.26 The Earls Court Site is 23.16 ha in area. The Earls Court Site broadly contains the following uses:

• Earls Court Exhibition Centres One (EC1) and Two (EC2): The EC1 and EC2 buildings comprise approximately 3.6 ha of exhibition space. Both buildings sit atop a steel and concrete slab constructed over a network of railway infrastructure;

• Northern Access Road: an area of land, identified as the ‘Northern Access Road’; between the rear of Philbeach Gardens, and the West London Railway Line. This component of the Site covers an area of approximately 0.94 ha and is currently unused. It was previously occupied by railway sidings;

• Empress State Building: A 33 storey office building located to the west of EC2, currently occupied by the Metropolitan Police Service;

• West Kensington & Gibbs Green Housing Estates: The western portion of the Earls Court Site is occupied by two LBHF council estates – West Kensington Estate (to the south) and the Gibbs Green Estate (to the north) – which are typically 1960s in their form and character. Though there are a few blocks of 9, 10 and 11 storeys present, the estate accommodation is primarily low and medium scale in height. Together the two housing estates provide 760 residential units;

• The West Kensington & Gibbs Green Housing Estates area also includes the Gibbs Green School, which was previously a primary school but is currently being used to temporarily house the Queensmill Special School;

• Lillie Bridge Depot: The TfL Lillie Bridge Depot comprises marshalling yards, engineering facilities, workshops and rail tracks, and is located in the central and northern portions of the Earls Court Site. Ashfield House is an office building of 9 storeys located on the northern edge of the Depot site and is used as a Transport for London training facility’

• A bus turning and waiting facility on Lillie Road immediately adjacent to EC2 and the Empress State Building;

• Earls Court Station: Earls Court Station, Listed Grade II is just east and outside of the Earls Court Site and connected to the existing Earls Court Exhibition Centre by a disused tunnel, escalator shaft and ticket hall which are within the Earls Court Site;

• West Kensington Station: West Kensington Station is located within the north-west corner of the Earls Court Site; • Clear Channel Building: Channel Building is a four storey commercial building located on the corner of Warwick Road

and West Cromwell Road;

• Rootstein Mannequin Factory: Located to the north-west of the Earls Court Site is a two storey commercial property which provides the headquarters and factory for the production of display mannequins;

• 175-177 North End Road: a small parade of connected two storey terraced properties with retail use at ground floor and residential accommodation above; and

• 1-8 Gibbs Green: a four storey residential building.

• The Earls Court Pedestrian Subway and Satellite Ticket Hall - the Earls Court Development Proposals retain the subterraneous passages and the escalator shaft of the Earls Court Station, and retain and re model the satellite ticket hall – the detailed design will be developed in due course. The satellite ticket hall, escalators and pedestrian tunnel link are listed (Grade II) – details of the proposed remodelling will be the subject of a separate application for Listed Building Consent.

1.27 Figure 6 illustrates the location of these existing uses across the Earls Court Site.

Description of the Earls Court Site Surroundings

1.28 The Earls Court Site does not lie within any of the strategic views of the London View Management Framework. The

townscape of the surrounding area can be divided into four broad character areas, as follows and as defined in Figure 7 • Townscape Area 1: South West Kensington;

• Townscape Area 2: Development along the railway line; • Townscape Area 3: East Fulham; and

• Townscape Area 4: Lillie Road.

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Figure 7 Townscape Areas

Townscape Area One: South West Kensington, (east of the Site, between Kensington High Street and Fulham Road)

1.29 The dominant form of this area is late-Victorian terrace housing built between 1850-1900, with the majority between 1865

and 1880. The area is highly permeable with a regular gridded layout of streets and gardens. The scale of the buildings within this are consistent

1.30 Buildings built in the earlier phase of estate development up to around 1880, tend to be in High Victorian Italianate. The

buildings were designed to resemble Italian villas, with the houses having slender windows, pillared porches, and usually multiple tall towers.

1.31 After 1880, the architectural fashion was for red brick terraces. The Victorian terraces have uniform building heights up to

five storeys. The only significant publicly accessible open space in the area is Brompton Cemetery.

1.32 There are three small sub-areas of anomaly within this area’s townscape. Although little of the original village remains, the

Earls Court Village Conservation Area retains the irregular triangular street pattern of the original settlement and is generally of earlier more modest terraces of 2-3 storey cottages. The Boltons (Figure 8a) is also unusual. It was the earliest part of the Gunter Estate to be developed around 1850. It is a striking area of large semi-detached villas around an open space.

1.33 Along the main roads Warwick Road, Earls Court Road, and Old Brompton Road, retail frontages and car-dominated

streets also create some variation to the townscape. These streets, plus West Cromwell and Cromwell Roads, form barriers to pedestrian movement which create breaks in the townscape, although the character on either side broadly falls within the same character area.

Townscape Area Two: Development along the railway line

1.34 The eastern side of the Earls Court Site forms part of a seam of larger scale, large footprint buildings running along the

length of the railway line. These include the Lillie Bridge Depot, and the Earls Court Exhibition Buildings 1 (Figure 8b) and 2 (Figure 8c). This zone is generally characterised by poor permeability and connectivity and a poor quality townscape.

1.35 South of the Earls Court Site, the seam continues with the Seagrave Road car park (a former area of railway sidings)

(Figure 8d), and the Stamford Bridge stadium of Chelsea Football Club. Arguably Brompton Cemetery could also be considered as part of this zone because of its large footprint and impact on east west permeability.

Townscape Area Three: East Fulham (west of the Site between Hammersmith Road and Fulham Road)

1.36 The predominant townscape to the west of the Earls Court Site is a coherent area of more modestly developed

late-Victorian terrace housing along tight regular gridded streets extending westwards from North End Road. These residential estates were developed slightly later than those to the east of the Earls Court Site, mostly between 1870 and 1890. The scale of the terraces is generally smaller, with a more modest suburban character than those to the east of the Earls Court Site. Houses generally have individual private gardens. The layout is well connected, permeable, and legible, with schools and churches acting as local landmarks, for example St Andrews Church on Greyhound Road.

Townscape Area Four: Lillie Road

1.37 This area of townscape character is a pocket of post-war development that interrupts the regular streets of the East Fulham

character area. Development was on sites created by World War II bomb damage of the Victorian housing and on railway sidings. This area includes development along Lillie Road and the housing estates to its north and south – Clem Atlee, Cheesman Terrace on Star Road, Gibbs Green (Figure 8e), and the West Kensington Estate (Figure 8f). These housing estates were created in response to the post-war housing need. They are broadly characterised by streets and open space that do not integrate comfortably with the earlier Victorian development and buildings that date from the three decades after the war. The estates have irregular placement of buildings surrounded by poorly defined open space - they lack permeability and connectivity with the surrounding area. On-street and forecourt parking spaces dominate the streetscape within the estates. This area includes Normand Park, created on a large area of bomb damage in 1952

Figure 8a-f Surrounding Townscape Areas

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Non-Technical Summary

6 Figure 8a-f Surrounding Townscape Areas Continued

Listed Buildings & Conservation Areas

Conservation Areas

1.38 A small part of the north-western corner of the Earls Court Site sits within Barons Court Conservation Area. The Earls Court

Site is also bordered by Philbeach Conservation Area to the north-east, Earls Court Square Conservation Area to the east, and Olympia and Avonmore Conservation Area to the north-west. There are also other Conservation Areas which are in close proximity, such as Brompton Cemetery Conservation Area (Figure 9).

Listed Buildings

1.39 The old ticketing hall linked to the Warwick Road entrance of Earls Court Station (a Grade II listed building) is located at the

lower levels on the eastern edge of the Earls Court Site.

1.40 St Cuthbert’s with St Matthias Church on Philbeach Gardens, built between 1884-1887 and designed by Hugh Roumieu

Gough, is Grade II* listed and is adjacent to the Earls Court Site.

1.41 West Brompton Station, designed by Sir John Fowler, is Grade II Listed. It was opened in 1869 as an extension of the

Metropolitan Railway.

1.42 The Earls Court Station originally only included the Earls Court Road entrance designed by Harry W Ford in 1906. It was

then extended to incorporate the circular booking hall on Warwick Road in 1937. The Entrance Gates and Screen to Brompton Cemetery, which were designed by Benjamin Baud between 1839 -1840, are Grade II* listed.

1.43 The Church of England Chapel and the arcades forming the Great Circle in Brompton Cemetery, designed by Benjamin

Baud in 1839 -1840, are Grade II Listed. 62-68 Lillie Road is a pair of connected Grade II Listed buildings built in the early/mid 19th Century. There are also a number of listed tombs within Brompton Cemetery.

1.44 62-68 Lillie Road is a row of connected Grade II Listed buildings built in the early/mid 19th Century, which lies outside the

site boundary.

Surrounding Building Heights and Massing

1.45 The storey heights of the buildings within the local context of the Earls Court Site vary from 2-3 storey terraced houses to

17 storey tower blocks. The taller elements are often located in groups forming clusters of taller elements on the skyline. There are also a few large-scale footprint buildings in the local area which dominate the townscape, for example Olympia and Chelsea Football Stadium.

1.46 Lillie Road has an inconsistent townscape with 3-4 storey buildings interspersed with large scale plot based modern

structures, including the Empress State building and the Hotel Ibis.

1.47 North End Road is similarly varied with 10 -11 storey estate buildings set against a 2-3 storey street edge to its western

side and the elegant 5 storey Victorian terraces towards the north.

1.48 West Cromwell Road has no relationship to its neighbouring buildings.

1.49 Warwick Road in contrast is well defined and has a consistent 4-6 storey building height.

Existing Trees

1.50 The Earls Court Site contains a range of existing tree species of varying ages and quality. Trees located in the surrounding

areas which are located within Conservation Areas are protected by Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs). The tress within the Earls Court Site do not have TPOs assigned to them although some of the trees have been identified as having some amenity value.

1.51 The trees within the Earls Court Site are comprised of:

• London Planes; • Limes;

• False Acacia; • Cherry; and

• A variety of Maple species including Sycamore.

1.52 A number of the trees surveyed are suffering from a leaf scale disease; in particular the Lime trees, some of the Maple

trees, as well as the few Horse Chestnut trees identified.

1.53 A number of the trees, in particular those within the West Kensington and Gibbs Green housing estates, have bark damage

to the lower trunk and branches (presumably through dog mauling).

1.54 The existing species of trees are for the most part of moderate quality and value.

1.55 The existing trees identified as potentially significant include a large Oak tree situated to the north of Mund Street, for which

a TPO has been requested. The back edge of Philbeach Gardens and Eardley Crescent fall within a Conservation Area and soothe trees are protected. The trees largely consist of mature Lime.

1.56 Within the Earls Court Site, a group of trees within the railway cutting have been identified as having a TPO status (the

trees comprise seven Sycamores and one Poplar).

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