The Planner: "Khan to appoint Liz Peace CBE as Old Oak and Park Royal chair"

Link to web site

"Should the London Assembly approve the appointment, she will lead the corporation as it builds out its plans to deliver 24,000 new homes and 55,000 jobs in West London.

"In June last year, Khan launched a review of the development corporation, stating that it would scrutinise the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding agreed in March 2016.

"Following the review, Khan said plans to regenerate the site had been left in a mess by his predecessor Boris Johnson. He criticised Johnson for 'rushing headlong' into an agreement with the government to transfer land at Old Oak, saying it was made on less favourable terms than other regeneration projects around the country.

"Peace has more than 35 years of experience in government and the property sector. She was the chief executive of the British Property Federation and has been an honorary president of the Property Litigation Association, chair of the Centre for London think tank and chair of the Shadow Government Property Agency."

[Reposted from Dec 2011] 'Transport for London': Orbital rail and Crossrail studies, for Old Oak rail connections

If you click immediately to the enlarged images, there are four slides on each subject.

As a point of detail, note the comment below about the green South Croydon services not showing as diverted via the new station. (There is a later posting on this web site, where TfL does shows them diverted.)

Please also link to "Light Rail Across Outer North London?" on the 'Brent Cross Coalition' web site.

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1) ORBITAL CONNECTIONS TO OLD OAK COMMON

(Click to enlarge)

(Southern trains are presumably diverted as well, but TfL 
cannot say that, because it does not regulate them)

Link to "Problems of Success for London Overground"

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2) CROSSRAIL TO WEST COAST MAIN LINE

(Wembley Central, Watford Junction, and wherever)

Link to Crossrail Promotional Videos.

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Link to HOME (see all posts).

The Guardian: "How one council is beating Britain's housing crisis"

"Fancy a three-bed semi with a garden for £152,000? Or rent at less than £500 per month? Sheffield is showing other local authorities how to build again"

Link to web site

"In 2015, England's local authorities built fewer than 3,000 new homes, just a tiny fraction of the estimated 250,000 new homes needed every year to meet demand. But one council has begun building again in volume, in what some see as a model for tackling the housing crisis.

"On the outskirts of Sheffield, hundreds of new homes are springing up, built by the council to space standards that have all but disappeared in the private sector. New residents – the majority are 25-35 year olds – say they are impressed by the designs and spaciousness, and enjoy their close proximity to the city.

"But this is not a return to the era of 1950s and 1960s council building. What Sheffield Housing Company (SHC) is doing is partnering with contractors to build low-cost homes for first-time buyers and families alongside houses and flats to rent at affordable prices, and with tenants better protected."

North Acton Perfume Factory: To have ONE developer may be regarded as a misfortune; to end up with TWO looks like carelessness

2017-03 EL Perfume Factory Panels March 2017 Final by scribdstorage on Scribd

2017-03 Imperial College 170323_Perfume Factory Public Boards by scribdstorage on Scribd

Arts Council: "£1.5 million investment announced as Old Oak and Park Royal is chosen as one of 16 'Great Places'"

"Old Oak and Park Royal has been awarded a grant of £1,489,255 from Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund’s Great Place Scheme to ensure that art, culture and heritage are at the heart of the major developments planned for the area.

"The money will support Made in Park Royal, an ambitious and community-focused project from Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC).

Plans for the three-year project include working directly with a pool of 2,000 local volunteers, an engagement programme designed to reach all school children in the area, and community-led research into local heritage.

"Joyce Wilson, London Area Director, Arts Council England, said:

"This is an exciting and timely project that puts culture-led place-making at the heart of one London's largest regeneration schemes. The Great Place Scheme funding will ensure that culture plays a key role in the early stages of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation's programming.

Made in Park Royal, a world-class arts and heritage programme, will involve the active participation of the whole community. It will enable thousands of artists, local residents and cultural, civic and heritage partners to play a key role in the future regeneration and long term success of the area."

"The 640 plus hectare development site, which spans the three boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham, will be the largest regeneration site in London, and the only place in the UK where High Speed 2 (HS2) connects with the Elizabeth Line (formally known as Crossrail). OPDC is using the investment in rail infrastructure projects to create new opportunities for people in the area and develop a whole new centre and community for west London.

"Victoria Hills, Chief Executive Officer, Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, said:

"This funding is a welcome boost for Park Royal, to celebrate the successes of the UK’s largest industrial site and to ensure local residents and businesses play an authentic role in shaping the future regeneration of the area. As the UK's largest and most vibrant industrial park, we look forward to working with local communities in and around Park Royal to deliver early culture-led regeneration projects as we help businesses prepare for the arrival of the 'superhub' HS2 and Crossrail station‎."

"Stuart Hobley, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund London, said:

"Heritage and culture are fundamental to our sense of self, and our sense of place. This award will ensure that they are both at the very heart of the on-going development and regeneration of Park Royal and Old Oak, and help to build on the success of previous National Lottery investment."

"Old Oak and Park Royal is one of sixteen places across England to receive a grant from the Great Place Scheme, a £20-million initiative inspired by the Government's Culture White Paper. Others include the London Borough of Waltham Forest, East Kent, and Reading."

The Guardian: "The joy of living on top of one another"

"At a time when we need to make better use of space, a new book celebrates the world’s best apartment blocks"

Link to web site

"What better use could there be for an architect’s skills than the design of a block of flats?

"To make a place where lives will be lived, loves lost and found, families raised, friendships made, plotlines developed for unwritten novels and screenplays, all within limitations of space that mean it actually requires some competence to stack up the units in better rather than worse ways – this surely is more worthwhile than to turn out another iconic museum or singular private house.

"It's a particularly pressing question in those parts of Britain where the urgent need for homes encounters the refusal to contemplate building, as previous generations would have done, on any piece of land designated 'green'.

"Instead, more people have to inhabit space formerly occupied by fewer people, which could and should be a good thing, with better use of resources, opportunities for sociability and so on, but it takes thought and care to do it well. It used to be said that Britain is not a nation of flat-dwellers: well, now we are, whether we like it or not, and we had better make the best of it."

Paddington bare

Paddington Quarter Final Sign Off by scribdstorage on Scribd

OPDC: Busy, busy, busy

2017-02 27022017 OPDC BOARD REPORT 06 - CEO Report - Appendix a - OPDC Studies List - Febraury by scribdstorage on Scribd

Euston: ensuring we have no problem

2017-02 Construction+Open+Evening+Feb+2017.compressed by scribdstorage on Scribd

First Crossrail train runs into Liverpool Street station

The public service starts in May, between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.

BBC: "QPR discuss building new home on site of Linford Christie Stadium"

Back of the net

"Championship side QPR have confirmed they are looking into the possibility of building a new ground on the site of the Linford Christie Stadium.

"Following delays to the proposed regeneration of Old Oak, where the club had been seeking to build a stadium, they are now assessing alternatives.

"One option could be a partnership with athletics club Thames Valley Harriers."

Evening Standard: "Tens of thousands of homes will be built in London suburbs to tackle housing crisis"

Link to web site

"Tens of thousands of homes are to be built in London’s suburbs under a blueprint to tackle the housing crisis blighting the capital, the Standard can reveal.

"... The Government's long-awaited housing white paper, published today, highlighted how housing density in London, relative to its population, was far below levels in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, and lower than in Berlin and Milan.

The document said: “'London is a relatively low-density city, especially in its suburbs. When people picture high-density housing, they tend to think of unattractive tower blocks, but some of the most desirable places to live in the capital are in areas of higher density mansion blocks, mews houses and terraced streets'."

London Civic Forum: Shaking up the OPDC

"The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC), the second Mayoral Development Corporation, has been in preparation since 2014. (see various Newsfoums) It is intended to secure the benefits of the regeneration and development of Old Oak and Park Royal. The 1,600-acre site in west London has been earmarked for 25,000 homes, the depot and stations for Crossrail and the HS2 high-speed train line.

"In June the new Mayor of London commissioned the Greater London Authority (GLA) to undertake a review of the strategic direction and work programme of the OPDC. The Mayor was reported to have said that 'it has been left in a mess by my predecessor'.

"The review found that:

• A memorandum of understanding agreed by mayor Boris Johnson and the government was hastily entered into and should have been agreed on more favourable terms
• That the deal was on terms less favourable than other similar previous land transfers
• The detail of the deal is too unclear and the risks inherent to the land are also uncertain and unquantified. Significant work is therefore required to understand the land's development potential and problems
• The OPDC staff resource does not have the capacity to take forward the land deal work and expert help will be needed.

"A series of recommendations have been made, including:

• Better terms on the land deal that are in the best interests of London such as those offered when Greenwich Peninsula was transferred to the GLA in 2012
• A review of the nature of the development being proposed, including the level of affordable housing
• A proposal that the new Homes for Londoners team at City Hall, set up by the Mayor in August to oversee homebuilding in the capital and boost the delivery of new and affordable homes, should work on the project
• A revision of the funding arrangements: although discussions with Whitehall about more money had 'so far proved fruitless' a strong case must be made to Government to provide financial support, new powers and value capture mechanisms to meet the cost of infrastructure funding
• It is vital that a credible longer-term plan be put in place for bringing forward a new commercial centre at Old Oak South
• That the OPDC, working with the GLA, investigates the feasibility and implications of redrawing the Corporation’s boundary so as to exclude Wormwood Scrubs
• The DCLG, DfT, Network Rail and HS2 public officials should be asked to step down from the Board and offered observer status instead. The resulting vacancies on the Board should be used to recruit experts with property and commercial knowledge and experience – and also local knowledge."

• 2017-01 London Civic Forum Newsforum74[629] by scribdstorage on Scribd

HS2 Ltd: Invest in Euston: We have no problem

2017-01 Euston Station Development Opportunity - Memorandum of Project Information by scribdstorage on Scribd

Cargiant's Old Oak Park: Kick the wheels, go for a test drive

2017-01 Cargiant 17698 OOP SummaryLeaflet Jan 2017_4_AW by scribdstorage on Scribd

Construction News: "HS2 could add extra station enabling package"

"High Speed 2 could create additional enabling packages to support the development of its Old Oak Common station if the government decides to approve the construction of a development deck above it, Construction News has learned.

"HS2 Ltd said it would be open to adding to the station enabling deals it was currently drawing up if a deck to support over-site development was approved by the Department for Transport.

"Old Oak Common is one of four stations that will be built or redeveloped as part of phase one of the £55.7bn mega-project. HS2 also plans to redevelop London Euston while constructing new stations at Birmingham Interchange and Birmingham Curzon Street.

"Construction News understands that a number of the joint ventures bidding for the £11.8bn civils packages will keep their consortiums intact for the station bids.

"Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation chief executive Victoria Hills told Construction News the corporation was in conversation with HS2 about the technical and commercial viability of putting more development around Old Oak Common station."

Andrew Wolstenholme, CEO Crossrail Ltd: "They think it's all over. It isn't quite yet."

Grand Union Alliance: another year

2017-01 Grand Union Alliance Report by scribdstorage on Scribd

The Guardian: "The new robot revolution will take the boss's job - not the gardener's"

"Advances in artificial intelligence mean a second wave of change is approaching - and it is not the low-paid service sector where jobs are most at risk"

"Guy Ryder is an old hand at Davos. The director general of the International Labour Organisation has seen it all: the years when the global business elite is brimful of confidence and the years, such as 2017, when the top 1% of the top 1% is fretful.

"Ryder detected parallels with 2009, when the global economy seemed to be heading for a second Great Depression. Eight years ago, the attendees were shaken by the banking collapse but showed little contrition. This year, they were alarmed by the populist anger that was evident in Brexit and Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House but couldn’t really understand why it was happening.

" 'The global elite has been saying all week that the public doesn’t really understand all the good things they are doing for it,' Ryder says. He is quite right about that. The 2017 Davos was a classic example of how people can be, at one and the same time, very bright and utterly obtuse.

"... [But] Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) mean a second wave of change is approaching – and this time the jobs at risk from the machines are going to be [many senior] jobs in the service sector."

OPDC: Our Community Leaflet

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