The Hammersmith Society / Council
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Council (LBHF)
Save our Skyline – River and King St views
Local residents will remember John Jones, who was for many years Chairman of our affiliate, the Ravenscourt Society, and who died in April. For several decades he was a formidable defender of his patch of Hammersmith from ill-judged development and Council efforts to sell off land on the fringes of Ravenscourt Park.
He threw himself into the battle against the first Town Hall development plans in 2010-12, chairing a number of packed public meetings on behalf of the Save our Skyline coalition. The campaign notably led to a Council Planning Committee meeting so crowded with objectors it had to be moved to the Great Hall of Latymer School. At that time, the Hammersmith Society worked with him to successfully see off the 15-storey glass towers around the Town Hall and a footbridge over the A4 which would have very considerably reduced the Furnivall Gardens' open space.
A barrister by profession, he used his professional and forensic skills in the service of local causes. His manner was a mixture of the magisterial and the mischievous, backed up by serious local knowledge and commitment. He also chaired public meetings for the Ravenscourt Action Group calling for Council action on anti-social behaviour.
An engaging obituary can be found in The Guardian following this link
The Ravenscourt Society was founded in 1971 and is no longer active, but perhaps there are residents in the area who would like to revive it; a local residents' association is a good way to stay in touch with what is going on at the Town Hall, channel local concerns, and to build a neighbourhood network.
More: Video describing the SOS campaign
Continued →
Tagged Affiliations Council Parks/Open Spaces Ravenscourt Society/Awards Town Hall
Hammersmith Bridge – widening the pathways
Published: 5th June 2020
Hammersmith Bridge underside and steelwork – May 2020
The Society's committee is of the view that as part of the renovation work, there is a great opportunity to improve the Bridge to make it better suited to future needs, requiring more space for pedestrians and cyclists, as mentioned in our last article. Our proposal is to widen the pathways to allow safe and satisfactory bidirectional walking on one side, and bidirectional cycling on the other, so that cyclists no longer need to compete with road traffic, significantly improving safety. Currently, because of the somewhat narrow walkways, it's not possible to safely cycle or even pass easily when walking, certainly not in a wheelchair or buggy. We think this can be done both at modest cost (certainly compared with the Garden Bridge!) and largely independently of the planned repair works, so as not to lengthen the closure. We have a brief update on repair works at the foot of this article.
The bridge's narrow pathways for most of the span measure approximately 1.6m, widening at the pillars to approximately 1.8m, but still too narrow for bikes to pass safely (one of the reasons cyclists have to dismount currently), let alone to support social distancing needed now, and possibly in the future. We've now looked at the structure in a little detail, and, as shown on the photos here, the pathways are supported by simple cantilevers, apparently bolted on.
Hammersmith Bridge – historical repairs (photo: Keepingthingslocal)
Steelwork underneath the bridge was repaired section by section in the 1970's, and a new grid of substantial longitudinal girders replaced the originals (pierced where bridge hangers meet the deck). Historic photos (right) show the original, very much less substantial steelwork. Given the scope of the repair works, and amount of money and time to be spent on repairs, there seems little reason not to now consider the attached pathways in more detail, especially if the planned temporary bridge removes the need to keep it open during the works.
Tagged Conservation Council Cycling Government Hammersmith Bridge Riverside Transport/TfL
Building on School Land
The Council is struggling to finance the upkeep of its school estate, a portfolio which includes over forty primary schools. Limited funds have been available since the government Building Schools for the Future programme was terminated in 2010, and in March last year the Council introduced a "Community Schools Programme", proposing to finance the improvement works by the building of affordable housing on school grounds. The programme starts with Flora Gardens and Avonmore Primary Schools.
Flora Gardens School Site
We are concerned at the direction of this policy: the unquestionable priority of good public education facilities does not justify the loss of public open space.
Public open space is sacred, it is a rare and precious commodity, and the acceptance of a practice which permanently removes the open space to alleviate a temporary financial shortfall is a mistake: it erodes the quality of our urban surroundings to the detriment of the public realm, and removes potential sites for future social facilities such as youth clubs and provision for the elderly, but also removes spare capacity essential to accommodate the likely increase in space requirements arising from the current review of school standards.
Tagged Avonmore/Brook Green/Olympia Council Parks/Open Spaces Ravenscourt Smaller Developments
2020 : The Year of the Tree
Arboricultural Association suggested tag
Twenty-Twenty was named the "Year of the Tree" by the Tree Council, and moments before lockdown, in Davos the World Economic Forum announced the creation of the One Trillion Tree Initiative, following on from the UN Billion Tree Campaign of 2006. We're hoping that H&F Council and residents will take the opportunity to participate.
In contrast, while Sheffield is normally noted for heavy industry, recently it became notorious for a rather different kind: the Sheffield Chainsaw Massacre seemingly more for the convenience of the PFI road maintenance contractor than for the public good, under a plan euphemistically called "Streets Ahead". The before and after shots are alarming. Furthermore, Sheffield Council has been found to have misled residents over the state of some trees.
King St. tree felling 2019
Here in Hammersmith, we recently praised the council's street tree planting programme, particularly in the North of the borough, and the associated guerrilla gardening was nominated for an award in 2018. In 2019 however, tree fortunes reversed somewhat, and we had our own mini chainsaw massacre, where a number of street trees were removed by council contractors without notice.
Four were removed in a day at the West end of King Street. A mature tree outside the Sainsburys local was clearly dead, two were young but had died, apparently of neglect, and the 4th (pictured in the background) was partly diseased. The removal on safety grounds is obviously an overriding consideration, however the job was half-done, and nearly a year on, ugly and potentially hazardous metre-high stumps remain littering our pavements, not just in King St. but elsewhere in the borough. We have contacted the council's arboricultural officer for comment on more than one occasion – so far without response.
Update April 2021 – it took a couple of years – but the good news is that trees have now been replaced by a new Plane and a Magnolia. Now let's see if we can get to work on those tree pits…
Tagged Conservation Council Environment / Streetscape Society/Awards
Coronavirus Stories
Published: 29th April 2020
coronavirus (imperial.ac.uk)
Hammersmith and Fulham Archives want to hear about people's experiences during the pandemic. Working with our partner charity UNITED In Hammersmith and Fulham, the Archives is documenting the experience of the coronavirus pandemic of all those who live, work or play in the Borough.
All submissions will be deposited permanently in the Borough Archives as a community memory of this unprecedented time. The Archives staff are seeking selfies with personal stories, photographs featuring empty streets, children's rainbows, your workplace or shop notices, and artwork or poetry. Details of what sounds like a fascinating community project can be found here
For those interested in family history, Ancestry Library Edition has kindly been made available remotely to library members during the H&F library closures – details here
Tagged Affiliations Council Government
Hammersmith Bridge – Temporary Foot and Cycle Bridge
TfL is planning a temporary footbridge parallel to Hammersmith Bridge at the request of H&F Council, to assure pedestrian and cycle transit throughout the repair programme. The aim is to give over the entire Bridge space to the continuing works, with the result that the total closure time could be reduced by 9-12 months.
Hammersmith Temporary Bridge
In an online webinar on 3 April (replacing planned exhibitions which had to be cancelled), representatives of TfL and LBHF set out their scheme for a prefabricated steel structure supported by 2 piers in the riverbed, on the downriver side of Hammersmith bridge. It would be the same height as the Bridge and would have no impact on river traffic. The usable deck would be 5.5m wide and there will be separation of cyclists and pedestrians (no motorbikes allowed).
Access would be via Queen Caroline Street on the Hammersmith side via gradual ramps. It would take 6-7 months to complete, and planning permission would stipulate it being in place for up to 5 years, with the aim of re-using the structure elsewhere afterwards.
Keeping foot and cycle traffic flowing has to be a welcome initiative. The one downside is that the structure would close the Thames Path on either side, meaning a detour – possibly via the rear of Riverside Studios or past the Apollo and round by Fulham Palace Road on the North side, and via Riverview Gardens on the Barnes side.
Meanwhile the pedestals, hangers, chain bearings and hanger connections are being worked on and acoustic monitoring of the Bridge structure continues. A detailed Scope of Works together with costs is expected later in the spring. The new deck will be steel, with resin on top, which will perform far better than the asphalt over boards which were alarmingly visible previously. The repairs will give 60 years of design life.
Can we make the restored and repaired bridge work better in the future ?
Tagged Conservation Council Cycling Hammersmith Bridge Riverside Transport/TfL
Climate Emergency – Residents' Commission
Committee and several members attended the recent Climate Change event at the Lyric to hear what the recently formed commission has been discussing, and to provide input. Sian Alexander, the Director of the Lyric, opened the meeting making the following points:
The H&F commission is a residents' working group engaged in a 'public facing campaign'.
The Commission started in 2019 and is one of a number of a H&F Residents' Commissions.
The Commission is chaired of local architect Paul Beaty-Pownall, and consists of twelve local members.
Its purpose is to advise and help H&F Council achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Its first formal meeting took place in December 2019.
We all need to be prepared for major changes.
Fehinti Balogun
We were then presented with a personal story of the effects of climate change from actor Fehinti Balogun, making an informative and entertaining presentation. He touched on how climate change affects not only himself but his wider family here and abroad, highlighting that the issue is about eco, not ego. He's been giving a similar presentation to schools in recent months.
He noted that the Commission is believed to only need 3.5% direct support from the population for success to be guaranteed by influencing all those connected.
Paul Beaty-Pownall
Paul Beaty-Pownall summed up and introduced the workshop sessions that followed. The audience were invited to participate and circulate through four separate discussion groups in order to gain ideas and recommendations from the participants.
We hope to see the report from the commission in the coming months to inform the Council's progress in accelerating our local responses to Climate Change.
To visualise the extent of the problem, the UK's current emissions of thousands of tonnes of CO2 per hour caused by electricity generation can be seen here
Tagged Air Quality & Climate Council Environment / Streetscape
Lockdown 2020: What the Society is doing
Published: 9th April 2020
Along with others, the Society's activities have been severely curtailed during the government's enforced lockdown. We've found a little solace in the popular Zoom video-conferencing application (used with appropriate security precautions), and on Monday this week, keeping to schedule, managed our first online committee meeting – with 75% attendance.
Online committee meeting
The committee decided that the Society should use some of its limited funds to make a donation of £1000 to Hammersmith residents in need of support at this difficult time, via our local charity and affiliate Hammersmith United Charities which represents an excellent model of giving relatively small grants to local groups which know what practical help is needed and target it accordingly. The donation will be distributed through their Community Coronavirus Appeal, which is run in conjunction with the Council.
We have inevitably decided to postpone this summer's AGM until government rules allow us to convene again. We'll announce a new date when rules change. The Spring Newsletter, which would normally be posted out in April, will be published on this website, as a series of articles released over the coming weeks, with summaries and links emailed to members as usual.
We hope to be in a position to at least make nominations for the 2020 Environment Awards by reviewing what material is available to us via photos, and we encourage you to submit nominations by email if you have a suitable development in mind. We may not be able to visit them, or make a formal award until later in the year, but expect to be able to publish and consider the suitable nominations.
Tagged Affiliations Council Government Society/Awards
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...and not a bad colour scheme twitter.com/OldLondonW14/s…
— Hammersmith Society @(HammersmithSoc) 5 days ago
@Look_UpLondon And winner of our 2021 Tom Ryland Award for Conservation😃hammersmithsociety.org.uk/awards/awards-…
— Hammersmith Society @(HammersmithSoc) 1 week ago
Benoy's 'cutting-edge' Chiswick development approved dlvr.it/SGlhPq
— Hammersmith Society @(HammersmithSoc) 2 weeks ago
Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, described by Horace Walpole as 'Lady Nature's Second Husband,' created landscapes on an immense scale that have endured for over 250 years ...
Our president Hans Haenlein remembers the Hammersmith Study Group... ...which I set up in 1969 with my students from the Polytechnic of Central London (now ...
The Society is set up in response to the damage done to Hammersmith by the widening of the A4
Stops a six-lane bridge ...
Hans Haenlein remembers some early successes of the 1960s and 1970s The Society's job is to be actively interested on behalf of all Hammersmith residents ...
The images are also available as an online montage or downloadable (large, 40M) pdf montage ...
Flyunder visualisation
St. Augustine's – Interior
Dalling Road, St David's Day 2019
Hammersmith Studios, Talgarth Road
Subscribe to our emails http://eepurl.com/dohtO5
Tom Ryland's Memorial Bench
Quaker meeting house frontage
Environment Award 2015: Waldo Road, College Park
Wormwood scrubs fog
Hammersmith and Fulham Archives
Dove passage
St Pauls Green
Environment Award 2007 – Vernon Street
16th Dec 2016 Planting Tree in Wormholt Park to commemorate the 90th Birthday of the HM Queen Elizabeth Second With The mayor and Cllr Harcourt The tree is a Liriodendron Tulipifera
Hammersmith Highline
Capability river downstream
2018 Environment Award: Helios TV centre
Margravine cemetery: Monument to George Robert Broad (1840-95) and Caroline Broad (1840-1905) by Aristide Fabbrucci
Rutland Arms, Lower Mall "The crowds enjoying unexpected February sunshine and a Sunday roast" February 2012 – by Chloe Poulter (age 15)
Environment Award 2001: Hammersmith Surgery
West London College (RIBA picture library)
The Great River Race 2019
Environment Award 2014: Sulgrave Gardens
Capability Brown Statue unveiling
The Arches, Ravenscourt Park November 2010 – Neville Collins
Quaker meeting wooden ceiling
Steam train at Ravenscourt Park Arches, June 23rd 2019
The Great River Race 2019 – Hammersmith Riverside
Olympia redevelopment model in Upper Pillar Hall
Hammersmith Grove Parklets – East
2021 Award Tom Ryland Conservation Award Winner: Mission Hall – lit up
River sculpture
Conservation Award 2015: Hammersmith Station
Nancye Goulden Award 2015: 21 Banim Street
Conservation award 2016: Barons Keep
The Ark: 1992 award winner
Left to right Michael Brindle (1990-1995), Roger de Freitas(1999-2003), Angela Clarke (2006-2009), Rosemary Pettit (2012-2015), Melanie Whitlock (1984-1990 and 2009-2012) and Hans Haenlein (1966-72 and current President of the Society).
BBC Square, White City
Nancye Goulden Award 2011: Phoenix School Caretaker's House
Hammersmith Riverside
Old Treacle Factory
Steam train approaching Ravenscourt Park, June 23rd 2019
28-10-16 Bridge Jane Bain
Guerrilla gardening W6
Capability Brown Statue
Environment Award 2017: King's House
Quaker meeting house brickwork
Nancye Goulden Award 2014: Temple Lodge
wormwood scrubs sun
Bush Theatre
245 Hammersmith Road Plaza
Town Hall extension demolished sunny
Conservation Award 2013: Olympia
Water Fountain outside Pallingswick House / WLFS
Conservation Award 2014: The Grotto
Nancye Goulden Award 2003: Ravenscourt Park walled garden
Tom Ryland plaque – Lyric theatre box
Conservation Award 2017: Bush Theatre