Go Ahead for College's Plan to Redevelop Former BBC Site
New campus in Wood Lane will also create new public square
Imperial College London has been given the go ahead to begin building a new campus on the site of Woodlands, the former home of BBC Worldwide at 80 Wood Lane.
The BBC sold the 7.7 acre site for £28 million in September last year.
The college says it has been granted planning permission by Hammersmith and Fulham Council for the first phase of a new campus at Wood Lane which will become a major centre for scientific, technological, business and medical education where future generations will be trained and taught.
And it claims the development, which falls in the White City Opportunity Area, could also offer benefits to local people, including the opening up of a new London square with shops, restaurants and healthcare services.
The first phase in the development of the new campus will provide accommodation for 606 postgraduate students, together with family accommodation for Imperial researchers, lecturers and trainee doctors along the south of Shinfield Street.
Also included in the first phase proposals is a meeting room facility which will be available to people living and working in the area.
The aim is to complete Phase 1 by September 2012 so that accommodation will be available to new postgraduate students joining the College for the academic year 2012-13.
In May this year, the college held a series of open days showing off its plans to local people. It says new accommodation building, designed by Aukett Fitzroy Robinson, is intended to provide the catalyst for the overall vision of the site.
This vision includes opening up a site which has been closed to the public for many decades and offering access to a new green London square the size of Soho Square, with:
Safe pedestrian and cycle routes through the site
New local retail uses, such as a convenience store and pharmacy
New leisure uses, such as a full service hotel, gym and restaurants
New healthcare services and early years education nursery
New commercial space, including an Incubator Unit for technology spin-outs.
All those would also mean new jobs, both during and after construction. Imperial College is of course already a major employer in Shepherd's Bush through its campus on nearby Hammersmith Hospital.
John Anderson, the director at Imperial College London responsible for the development of the Wood Lane site, says: " We are delighted that Hammersmith & Fulham Council has approved our plans to develop accommodation on the Wood Lane site for our postgraduate students.
" Providing accommodation for postgraduates, doctors and researchers, will support our world-class academic activities.
"We look forward to taking this first step towards establishing a campus that offers a wide range of uses, bringing benefits to the local community and London, as well as to Imperial College London.”
