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"QPR bosses aim to create an 'O2 of the west' rather than a traditional football stadium when the club moves to a new 40,000-seater home.
The 'Superhoops' today announced plans to relocate a mile north of their 18,000-capacity stadium in Loftus Road to Old Oak Common in time for the start of the 2018 season.
"Mayor Boris Johnson said he hoped the move would help spark a £14 billion development of hundreds of acres of industrial wasteland.
"But QPR chief executive Philip Beard, recruited in 2011 from the O2’s US owners AEG, said the stadium could only work financially if it could attract uses other than football."
“Loftus Road is – and always will be – a special place for the club and our supporters, but we need more than an 18,000 capacity.
With no option of expanding here, we have to look elsewhere and we welcome the Mayor’s and Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s commitment to regenerate the area, which includes an option to develop a new stadium at Old Oak as a key catalyst to bring forward redevelopment, cementing our future in this part of West London.
Not only will this give us a top quality stadium to cater for QPR's needs as the club progresses and grows over the years ahead, but we are very excited about being the driving force behind creating one of the best new urban places in the world.
This will be the catalyst for the regeneration of a forgotten area – ultimately bringing new transport, 24,000 homes and at least 50,000 jobs.
It will create a vibrant new destination in London, boosting local businesses, attracting new visitors and tourism and creating a thriving community.”"QPR CEO, Philip Beard, added:
“We look forward to working with the Mayor and local authorities and we will, of course, be consulting our loyal and passionate supporters, as well as the local community, on our exciting plans early next year. We will look to build a stadium QPR fans and local residents can be proud of.
Loftus Road is renowned for its atmosphere and with the help of our supporters, replicating that at our new stadium will be one of our top priorities.”"Chair of the HS2 Growth Taskforce - which is meeting in London today (December 13) to ensure the capital maximises the benefits from HS2 - Lord Deighton, said:
“Regeneration only happens when the public and private sector work together. We welcome QPR and Stadium Capital Development's commitment to the regeneration plan at Old Oak. Delivering modern transport infrastructure such as HS2 and Crossrail can be a catalyst for regeneration in London. The Government looks forward to working with key stakeholders on this.”"Antony Spencer, who – alongside Sir Terry Farrell – is developing the master-plan for Old Oak, commented:
“We envisage a new vibrant, mixed-use and high-quality entertainment and leisure development, which will turn this neglected but tremendously well-connected area into a new world-class city quarter.
We are talking to a number of world-class architects to design iconic tall buildings akin to New York, the Far East and London’s finest, as well as improving and incorporating the waterside environment of the Grand Union Canal. We have assembled a top-class professional team to design tens of thousands of new homes, a 350-bedroom luxury hotel and millions of square feet of entertainment and leisure focused commercial space including: retail, studios and offices, bars and clubs, restaurants, cinemas and other leisure accommodation.”"The announcement comes after many months of discussions with the Greater London Authority and the Boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent and Ealing.
“We know we still have a long way to go in dealing with the planning, infrastructure funding challenges and business relocations but we are now in a position to forge ahead as we have secured strategic land holdings in excess of 100 acres. We are confident of securing a planning permission by early 2015 and starting development shortly afterwards.
We need, however, to work very closely with the public and private sector bodies, such as TfL and Network Rail, to enable the necessary infrastructure requirements. We look forward to working with the GLA, Hammersmith & Fulham and the local boroughs in a partnership approach between the public and private sectors.
The potential arrival of the MDC, with its planning and compulsory purchase powers, could dramatically speed up the delivery of this site.”
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"A Government bill paving the way for a £50billion high speed rail line (HS2) to be built confirms Old Oak Common, just north of Wormwood Scrubs, as a principal hub station it was revealed this week.For more, visit www.lbhf.gov.uk/hs2
"The high speed hub will connect the HS2 line to Crossrail and the Great Western Main line and provide opportunities for substantial regeneration of the nearby area, according to the council.
"Vast tracts of semi-derelict industrial land, in the north of Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F), could be transformed with up to 19,000 new homes and 90,000 jobs thanks to the major improvement in accessibility that HS2 will bring.
"Supporters of the rapid rail link between London and the north hope to see a new high-speed line running from the capital to Birmingham by 2026. Preliminary contracts worth £60million can now be handed out, although further legal hurdles remain before the actual railway can go ahead. Auditors KPMG say the line would boost the UK economy by £15billion a year.
"Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said:
“HS2 is the most ambitious and important infrastructure project in the UK since we built the M25 30 years ago, and in 30 more it will be just as integral a part of the nation’s prosperity.”"A second phase, taking the line to north west and north east England, is due for completion by 2033. The cost of the project is now put at £42.6billion with a further £7.5billion for the trains.
"HS2 is set to make Old Oak Common Britain’s best connected railway station as it acts as the main interchange between HS2 and Crossrail. The Government has signalled Old Oak’s vital role in taking pressure off busy central London terminals like Euston, the London terminus of HS2, which could not have coped with the 13,000 extra passengers an hour that HS2 will bring. A new generation of trains, running at speeds of up to 225mph will stop at the new Old Oak hub station.
"Five of the nation’s airports will be linked to the high-speed rail network for the first time through the Old Oak interchange. Central London and Heathrow will be just 10 minutes away, Birmingham will be 40 minutes direct from Old Oak and Luton, Gatwick and City Airport will all be within 45 minutes. In addition, if the Government decide to move Heathrow to a new hub to the east of London, there will be a direct connection from Old Oak via the HS1 link in less than 30 minutes.
"Around half of working age adults within 1.2miles of the station are unemployed. Some parts of the area - which includes a large amount of railway land with train depots, two waste recycling facilities, the Car Giant dealership and other light industrial uses - are in the bottom 1% most deprived nationally.
"Given the regeneration potential HS2 provides, the Government, Mayor of London, TfL and London Boroughs of H&F, Brent and Ealing have developed a 30-year vision to transform the Old Oak area. The Vision spells out how up to 90,000 jobs and 19,000 new homes - in addition to new schools, open spaces, shops and leisure facilities - could transform the area. View the vision at www.london.gov.uk/oldoak
"Cllr Nicholas Botterill, H&F Council Leader, says:
"HS2 has the potential to act as a catalyst to create much-needed new homes, jobs and opportunities in one of London's poorest areas. We have heard a lot about how HS2 will bridge the north-south divide and regenerate parts of northern England and the Midlands, but it has also the potential to transform rundown inner London neighbourhoods right on our doorstep.
We will continue engaging with HS2 and the Government over the coming months, to ensure that the HS2 proposals deliver the optimal benefits for the borough’s residents.”"There is potential to improve the local road network and provide bus and cycle lanes, linking existing and new stations to the wider area. There is also potential to improve local connections with new bus services to a new bus interchange at the proposed HS2 and Crossrail station, and discussions are on-going with the Government about ways in which the London Overground rail network could be connected to the Old Oak Common station.
"Mr McLoughlin continued:
“The number of passengers on our railways has doubled since 1995, while rail freight traffic has risen by 65 per cent over the same period. The existing rail network is operating at near full capacity, and neither new motorways nor domestic air travel are environmentally sustainable options to meet the mobility requirements of a British population expected to grow by 10 million by 2033.”
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"It's the perfect example of what infrastructure does for the British economy.""... Several elements came together to make it possible. The creation of the office of mayor in 2000 made a huge difference, says David Leam of London First, a lobby group. As the mayor’s remit is limited mainly to transport, incumbents badly wanted the railway. And the business case for the project has strengthened."
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"There were shouts of ‘Urgh!’ and ‘That’s disgusting!’ this week in Lyric Square, along with stares from inquisitive residents doing their shopping and workers on their lunch breaks, as they passed a six-foot tall box filled to the top with rubbish.
"The clear, plastic box stood in the square on Tuesday and contained waste collected from the rubbish bins and off the street in a half a mile stretch between Hammersmith Broadway and Hammersmith Town Hall in King Street.
"Around 30 bags were put into the box over an eight hour period to show how much rubbish is thrown away every day and to demonstrate that the majority of it could actually be easily recycled – if the right items, like drinks’ cans, plastic bottles and newspapers, had been put in the correct bin."
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"The reason for building HS2 can sometimes be obscured in the fog of argument about whether people work on trains, benefit-cost ratios (BCR) and the like, writes Tim Smart, Head of Engineering and Operations, HS2 Ltd.
"There have been a number of negative comments in the media during the latter part of the summer concerning the likely out-turn costs of HS2. Some are from notable sources, but it is far from clear on what real basis these comments have been made.
"It seems to me they were made more on the narrow and short-sighted view that big infrastructure projects are not successful in meeting cost targets than a proper understanding of the proposals and strategies behind HS2. They also ignore recent successful projects such as the Heathrow Terminal 5, 2012 Olympics and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link – HS1."
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| The Old Oak Common sand pit: have fun! (Image added July 2013: Wikipedia user: Cnbrb) |
It is too early at this stage to be definitive. TfL are pushing High Speed Two Limited (HS2 Ltd) to include plans for connecting the London Overground into the interchange at Old Oak Common in time for the initial phase, due to open in 2026.
TfL are supportive of the principle of providing local connections from Old Oak Common to surrounding areas, such as Kensal, Park Royal and Willesden Junction. A light rail system may be the best way to provide these links, but more work is required to determine whether other options may be more suitable.
TfL do not support the current proposal to link HS2 to HS1 due to the likely adverse impacts on both London Overground and freight services on the North London Line. Network Rail are undertaking further work for HS2 Ltd exploring alternative options for linking the two high speed lines.
TfL do not support having Crossrail stations at both Kensal Gasworks (K&C) and Old Oak Common (H&F). The journey time disbenefits to through passengers would outweigh the benefits. Due to the connectivity benefits brought about by providing an HS2 / Crossrail interchange, TfL are fully supportive of a Crossrail station at Old Oak Common. As such, TfL do not support stopping Crossrail trains at Kensal Gasworks. In addition to this – given the close proximity of the two station locations, it is felt that links between Old Oak Common and Kensal Gasworks could be provided by other means.
TfL have undertaken extensive analysis into diverting some of the WCML slow trains onto Crossrail. In particular, if those London Midland slow line services that currently run into Euston are instead run as Crossrail services, there may well be a large reduction in passenger arrivals at Euston, potentially freeing up space for HS2 passengers. This would require a new rail link between the WCML and GWML in the Old Oak Common vicinity, potentially utilising the Dudding Hill Line. Crossrail trains running up the WCML could call at Old Oak Common, either at new platforms, or they could utilise the platforms provided on the GWML as part of the HS2 proposals.
H&F have safeguarded a section above the North Pole sidings, as part of the conditions for the IEP depot. This would potentially allow for London Overground platforms, although such a station would be 200-300m away from the HS2 / Crossrail interchange at Old Oak Common. TfL are exploring options that would allow for easier interchange between all three services (LO, HS2 and Crossrail) – see Figure 1, below.
Potentially both WLL and NLL services could serve this station.
See (a) above.
Under TfL’s preferred plans, North Acton station would remain where it is.
Southern services could make use of the connection from the WLL (see Figure 1 below) potentially allowing Clapham Junction to Milton Keynes services to run via Old Oak Common.
As part of a new interchange at Old Oak Common, running London Overground services along the Dudding Hill Line, via Old Oak Common could be considered, although these services might have to reverse at Old Oak Common for this to be possible.
Overground services on the Dudding Hill line are being considered because, given the other London Overground services in the area, extending the London Overground network is likely to be more cost-effective than providing a new light rail network. It is essential that the ability for freight trains to use the Dudding Hill line is retained. It may be possible to develop a scheme where light rail services can operate alongside freight trains, but operating London Overground services over the Dudding Hill line is likely to be a simpler way of providing improved connectivity between Brent Cross and Old Oak Common.
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