Plans to replace to upgrade Hounslow West underground station and 351 homes in the surrounding car park have been, submitted to the London Borough of Hounslow for detailed planning consent.
Hounslow West which is situated on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly Line in southwest London has not undergone a significant upgrade since 1975.
The current hexagonal station on Bath Road originally opened in the early 1930s, the platforms were then replaced with ones slightly to the north of the existing alignment to enable services to Hatton Cross in 1975 and Heathrow Central in 1977.
Proposals include the replacement of a new paid-side London Undeground walkway that replaces the existing 1970s structure, which is more in keeping with the Grade II Listed building.
It also includes an extension to the listed building to provide larger staff welfare facilities and a new stairwell to the basement, which includes access to the original platform alignment.
Passenger demand has slowly been decreasing since 2014 (4.5% decrease on 2014 levels). Demand is forecasted to increase as the borough prioritises housing growth over the next 15 years, delivering at least 26,700 additional homes in the period to 2035 of which, half are within the threshold of Hounslow West station.
Plans prepared by Stantec (Town Planning) with designs by architects HKR, follow an invitation to tender by Tfl in July 2019 as part of TfL’s plan to provide 10,000 homes across the capital.
Following a tender response submitted in October of the same year and TfL confirming A2Dominion as their preferred development partner in January 2020.
The scheme proposes a solely “affordable residential” development of affordable rent and Shared Ownership with the hope that redevelopment proposals can optimistically start in March 2023, to enable the construction of four new build blocks ranging from 6 to 11 floors in height on the site home to 441 car parking spaces owned by a private operator.
Its immediate proximity to a London Underground station and associated bus interchange is also served by the Night Tube which was restored to pre-pandemic frequencies earlier this in July.
Whilst the notable modal shift to cycling seen throughout Inner London has to take hold in this part of Zone 5, the scheme interestingly enough includes provision for 650 residential cycle parking spaces and 63 for visitors to the residential and commercial uses at the ground level with a proportion of those to larger bikes such as Cargo Bikes.
Although plans are being consulted to extend the segregated cycle lanes from their current extent in Chiswick to the eastern end of Hounslow High Street via Gunnersbury, Kew Bridge, Brentford, and Isleworth.
