News Update - Shepherds Bush Market Redevelopment
News at Kerr & Co | 18/01/2024
News Update - Shepherds Bush Market Redevelopment
Shepherd's Bush Market is set to be refurbished under a scheme from its current owners Yoo Capital. The market currently is very much a iconic London landmark for West London with its traditional stalls and trading spaces under the railway arches. Located on the east side of the railway viaduct for the Hammersmith and City Tube line, it borders on the north side by the Uxbridge Road, and on the south by the Goldhawk Road. The market dates back to 1914 and became very popular particularly after 1918 as soldiers returning from from the war were offered stalls to help restart their lives.
Shepherds Bush Market has become one of the most loved markets in London and has been an ikon for many generations by locals and the general community where there is a strong identity to it heritage and history to the local area. Every individual market trader offers a unique presence to the market and sell a wide variety of goods including fresh fish meat and vegetables, fabrics, household goods and clothing. There are also a number of cafes and restaurants selling falafel, Ethiopian food, Chinese food and high end pizza in the Hawks Nest bar and restaurant adjacent.
In September 2020, Yoo Capital became the majority owners of Shepherd's Bush Market and have submitted the proposals for the markets upgrade and housing development . Yoo Capital are experienced developers in simular projects completing Sky Gardens and Greenwich Square residential developments, with the £1.3billion refurbishment of Kensington Olympia their most recent.
The plan also sees some of the market stalls being refurbished and will remain on the site, they also include the construction of 40 new affordable will be managed by the council and designed by architects AHMM. The designs for the 1.8ha site in west London would deliver a stepped nine-storey commercial building with 32,380 sq m of space, named Goldhawk Studios to include office accommodation, a life-science incubator that would be operated by Imperial College London, a café, meeting rooms and space for market traders.
The former A Cooke pie and mash shop, immortalised by rock band The Who in the film Quadrophenia, would be reconfigured as a pedestrian entrance to the new commercial space under the proposals.
The approval decision came before christmas in a council committee meeting which then was disrupted by protestors from local community group Protect Shepherd's Bush Market and criticised by locals and protesters as 'rampant gentrification' of the area which is adjacent to Shepherds bush green and Shepherd's Bush Conservation Area. A report to members of Hammersmith and Fulham's Planning and Development Control Committee revealed 126 objections had been received in connection with the proposals since they were submitted in May – as opposed to 103 representations in support of the scheme. With a shortage of housing in West London it has come with mixed feelings, concerns about the height and scale of the proposals have been raised, especially as the immediate area around Shepherds Bush Green as it is part of Shepherds Bush Conservation Area.
Peter Wheeler, Chair of Shepherd's Bush Market Tenants' Association, said: 'On behalf of the Shepherd's Bush Market Tenants' Association, we are very pleased that the project now has the go ahead from Hammersmith and Fulham Council. In a statement he said 'The traders have been in limbo for the last 15 years and the Market has been in a continuing downward spiral in footfall and trade. We're pleased that we can now begin to plan for our future.'
The decision, will still need approval from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and the planning meeting has been aadjourned due to the disruption at the planning meeting.
For more information on the development please see
https://shepherdsbushmarket.org/about
https://yoocapital.com
https://www.hammersmithsociety.org.uk/shepherds-bush-market-update