Earls Court is an iconic place that offers a unique opportunity to deliver a masterplan that sets a new global standard for a sustainable and vibrant mixed-use development; a place for the innovative and the industrious.
Split between the London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham, Earls Court is an iconic place that offers a unique opportunity to deliver a masterplan that sets a new global standard for a sustainable and vibrant mixed-use development; a place for the innovative and the industrious.
Once the site of the world-renowned Exhibition Centre, Earls Court is a place of exception, one of the last brownfields in Zone 1, and Central London’s most exciting development opportunity.
Our landscape-led framework plan for Earls Court will open up a 40-acre site that has been inaccessible for over 150 years with approximately 4,500 homes, a 2-hectare park, over 12,000 jobs, and a cultural anchor at its heart.
Strategy
In 2020, the Earls Court Development Company (ECDC) embarked on a bold vision to “Bring the Wonder Back to Earls Court” on behalf of the Earls Court Partnership Limited, a joint venture between Delancey and Transport for London.
Working for ECDC, and in collaboration Hawkins Brown, we are developing proposals that will form the basis of a hybrid planning application. The ambition is to create an environment that is reintegrated with its surroundings for the first time in 100 years and, in doing so, embraces the hopes and aspirations of the local community and the area.
The Mayor of London has identified the site as an Opportunity Area, setting high ambitions for the delivery of homes and employment in this part of London. Our framework plan builds upon this strategic incentive. It is also informed by our ongoing explorations into the future of mobility, the expanding role of the home, and the changing nature of the workplace.
Being a site of exceptionality, it is an opportunity to deliver a diverse range of uses with innovation at its core, delivering London's newest mixed-use district, welcoming London and the world back to Earls Court.
With excellent links to Heathrow, Slough, Reading and the Thames Valley, Earls Court holds the potential to become a showcase for the region's growth and exploration into Life Sciences, Tech and Innovation.
Specificity
Earls Court can become a unique, highly desirable and commercially competitive area that achieves and exceeds the place-making quality of other growth areas. The area has a chance to re-affirm its position within West London as a mixed use quarter integrating homes, workplace, leisure and culture.
Our starting point was to work with what is already there, to retain key assets and reveal the hidden wonders of the site by reusing existing structures where possible.
Our proposals will balance the legacy of Earls Court as a place of landmark attractions with the need to achieve physical, social and economic integration with the surrounding urban area. We aim to attract anchors and catalysts driven by the regionally significant themes of Technology, Food, Culture and Horticulture.
To amplify nature in the local environment, we are introducing a verdant stepping green and blue landscape. This will help breathe new life into the city, and offers opportunities to grow food in the heart of the city, as well as shape the experience of place via highly flexible public open spaces.
Our proposals have an immediate start, and we are creating meanwhile and permanent, socially, commercially and culturally driven, interventions that plant the seed for long-term development. These initiatives incubate a sense of place for residents and visitors early on.
Sustainability
We have adopted a fundamentally landscape-led approach that puts nature first. Designs have a climate conscious approach and vehicle movement will be kept to the periphery of the site to create a pedestrian focussed and highly connected heart. The site will seek to stitch into the local area and link existing public transport nodes to create a highly walkable and welcoming place.
New cycle links across will address the deficiencies to the current cycle network and we will introduce new pedestrian links to offer links between surrounding communities and integrate the site into its contextual urban grain.
A comprehensive urban greening strategy throughout the site seeks to reduce noise and air pollution, creating a cleaner, quieter and healthier environment for living, working and leisure. Better connected sites of nature conservation species and rich ecological corridors will be created throughout the site with a significant volume of new trees to help boost the local tree canopy cover and create ecological links between adjoining habitats. These design proposals will reduce flood risk and achieve sustainable water management, including sustainable urban drainage. Designs seek to retain and recycle as much water as possible on site.
