‘Famous institution’ will move to Old Oak Common culture zone

Proposals: How the Old Oak Common site could look

Jonathan Prynn, Business Editor @JonPrynn

27 January 2016

A “world famous cultural institution” is to relocate to Old Oak Common in a breakthrough for Boris Johnson’s plans to turn the desolate swathe of railway sidings and industrial estates into a thriving new west London district.

The Mayor is expected to confirm that the “household name” will move to the site currently occupied by second-hand car dealership Cargiant, the Standard has learned.

It will be at the heart of a cultural quarter in a £5 billion new town with 7,000 homes — known as Old Oak Park — next to the Grand Union Canal.

Sir Edward Lister, deputy Mayor for planning and chairman of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, said: “We see it as absolutely essential to bring anchors in. Like the Olympic Park you have to create reasons for people to come there and reasons for people to live there.”

The cultural quarter proposal was revealed in the latest vision for the 46-acre car lot, which has been used by Cargiant since 1985.

Half of the homes should be genuinely affordable, say campaigners

By Pippa Crerar

The regeneration of the sprawling Old Oak Common site should include 50 per cent affordable housing rather than luxury developments, London Citizens said today.

The campaigners said such a move by the next mayor would make the redevelopment of the former industrial area truly accessible to locals.

About one third of the 25,000 new homes expected to be built over coming decades would comprise affordable housing. But local political leaders have raised concerns that residents could be priced out of the plans for the “Canary Wharf of west London” by wealthy foreign investors.

Father Simon Cuff, a London Citizens leader, said: “London Citizens members, like many in the capital, are facing the real-life challenges that unaffordable homes create. Families cramped into a room; borrowing just to cover rent.”

London Citizens wants all developments on public land to be 50 per cent affordable housing, prioritising locals. It also wants the next mayor to back a London Living Rent which would be linked to local income, and never be more than a third of pay, and deliver 10,000 homes in this bracket within four years.

The new plans will be seen as a blow to Queens Park Rangers’ ambitions to build a 40,000-seat stadium at Old Oak Common, although the Championship club is still being considered for other potential sites in the area.

A new round of public consultation begins today before a likely planning application in the spring or summer.

Cargiant is developing the site with property company London & Regional and will use the profits from the sale of homes to pay for a new base in west London. They are planning to move out in 2021.

As well as the cultural quarter the site will have a new canal frontage with a nature reserve and towpath to the south, and a promenade to the north lined with parks, cafes, restaurants and performance spaces.

There will also be a new Overground station called Hythe Road between Shepherd’s Bush and Willesden Junction. The number of homes has been reduced from the previous estimate of 9,000 to allow for more open spaces.

Old Oak Park makes up about 15 per cent of the Old Oak Common area, which in turn makes up less than half the land covered by the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation which stretches from Wormwood Scrubs to the North Circular.

Geoff Springer, Old Oak Park development director, said it would be “one of the most important developments in London for a generation”, providing one million sq ft of offices and workspace and “a 500,000 sq ft cultural institution anchoring an entire cultural and educational quarter”.

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‘Famous institution’ will move to Old Oak Common culture zone

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