Collaboration with the community forms an integral part of our approach to determining a new future for the site.
From the outset, we have sought to differentiate from the previous ownership, focusing on building genuine relationships, investing in, and becoming part of, the existing community and taking a collaborative approach to masterplanning.
We will continually reach out to the local community to understand changing needs and aspirations throughout 2022 and early 2023 before submitting planning applications to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in around Spring 2023.
This will include:
Public workshops from January 2022
We will host a series of workshops from January 2022 to look in more detail at elements of the early masterplan. These will be open to the public but do require a time commitment of around three hours a month to ensure continuity. To find out more or get involved please email info@earlscourtdevco.com
Ensuring all voices are represented
We want to ensure that all voices from the community are listened and represented to throughout this process. In October 2021, we began a programme of workshops with young people from the local area, which will culminate in a manifesto to be taken out to consultation with young people across the community and, ultimately, presented back to the design team as part of the masterplanning process. We will also be running a series of workshops with older people and with groups representing those with disabilities and young adults with complex needs. The focus is on ensuring that the needs and aspirations of all across sections of the community are incorporated into the masterplan, creating an inclusive, supportive and welcoming neighbourhood. These groups will continue to be involved throughout the masterplanning and engagement programme.
Further consultation events, webinars and online surveys over the next 18 months
Over the next 18 months there will be a series of different public events, drop-in sessions, online webinars, digital surveys and many other ways to get involved. Each time the materials will be updated to reflect the latest designs as they are developed, and we will invite further collaboration with local people at each stage. These will always be widely publicised locally but do check out our website and social media channels for the latest updates too!
Many opportunities to talk at one of our community events
We are based locally on Empress Place and are working hard to become a genuine part of the community. As we did over the summer with our fun pop-ups at Warwick Road Apron and Mund Street, our team will continue to organise and attend local events and will always be happy to talk about the latest proposals, answer questions or simply listen.
Bringing life back to the site
We know there has been a strong desire locally to see the empty Earls Court land put to good use, and since taking over the site we have worked hard to make this happen.
We have been delighted to bring London Wonderground to Earls Court and we are also opening up spaces that were left empty or derelict by the previous owners.
We have established a £180,000 a year community fund which has already funded 19 local charities and organisations.
Tell us what you think: 1. Do you have any ideas for uses, events or activities that we can bring to the site in the coming months and years, to continue to keep it active and of benefit for loc al people?
Bringing London Wonderground to Earls Court, which welcomed 114,000 visitors
Hosting the Kensington + Chelsea Festival at Warwick Road Apron
Curating a diverse food and retail offer at The Prince and Lillie Road
Creating discounted homes for key workers at the former Seven Stars pub
Bringing empty homes and workspaces back into use at Empress Place
Establishing a £180,000 new community fund to benefit local charities and community organisations
An inspiring past
For 150 years, Earls Court has been known as a global showcase for innovation, entertainment and achievement. Internationally renowned, it was a source of national and local pride, supporting jobs and investment and helping local business to thrive.
1887 1895 1937 1948 2012
This was all lost when the site was left as an empty void after the Exhibition Centres were demolished. It remains a physical barrier between communities, but at circa 40 acres and superbly well connected, today it is London’s most important Opportunity Area.
3. And what you didn’t like that you would like to see avoided in the future. West
2. Tell us your most wonderful memories of the old Exhibition Centres.
Kensington
We have a bold and ambitious vision:
The vision TO BRING THE WONDER BACK TO EARLS COURT
We will deliver this vision through developing a new plan for the future of the site.
• A plan that doesn’t seek simply to create a new community, but nurtures something already rooted in this place; working with what is already here.
• A plan which will be about more than buildings alone - creating a truly welcoming place that embraces wellbeing, culture and inclusivity from the outset.
• A plan to build the heritage of the future, championing innovation and reflecting the seismic changes which are continuing to impact how we live, work and spend time.
• A plan which already reflects the engagement we have had over the last 18 months. You will be a part of this journey from start to finish, with the opportunity to inform how the site comes back into life.
The masterplan will be underpinned by a ‘Sustainable Development Charter’, to ensure that we have the most beneficial impact on the local area both now through meanwhile uses, and through the future redevelopment of the site. We will publish this in early 2022, to cover three strands of work:
1 Social Value
To maximise and track the social impact of the work we do, whether through health and wellbeing, a feeling of pride in the area or how people feel they are benefiting from learning and other opportunities.
2
Economic Inclusion
To set out a measurable ambition to support local jobs, employment and skills training, and to benefit people and businesses through an improved local economy.
3 Environmental Wellbeing
To look at how we can address the climate emergency in the local area both now through local initiatives and more widely as part of our ambition to bring forward a future development that goes beyond net-zero.
Priorities
The masterplan will be based on four priorities. These priorities reflect local hopes and desires informed by 18 months’ work to understand the area, including thousands of virtual and face to face conversations.
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1 A showground of world class ingenuity –celebrating Earls Court’s legacy and history.
Open up the former Exhibition site for the first time in 150 years –giving back to local communities.
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3 Address the climate emergency –an ambition to go beyond net-zero.
Create a better piece of city –a blueprint for future generations.
We are asking for your views on how we incorporate these priorities into the long term masterplan for the site. We will then present more information on the emerging designs in early 2022.
Priority 1 Opening up the site
Our first priority is to open up the former Exhibition site for the first time in 150 years –giving back to local communities. We have a duty to create something here of lasting benefit for the many communities and businesses around the site.
In planning for the future, we will connect the site properly into its surroundings after over 150 years of being largely closed with mostly private and ticketed entry.
A place where improving the wellbeing, opportunities and outcomes for our existing communities is considered from the beginning.
It will be a place where nature and biodiversity can thrive, providing safe and welcoming public open spaces so lacking in the area.
Tell us what you think:
4. Which new routes into or through the site would be most beneficial to you?
5. What types of open spaces would you like to see created?
6. What facilities do you feel are most lacking in the area?
Priority 2 A showground of world class ingenuity
Our second priority is to deliver a showground of world class ingenuity –celebrating Earls Court’s legacy and history.
Earls Court was a place of global wonder and discovery and the ambition to lead through innovation, ingenuity and entertainment inspires us to this day.
We will embrace culture, music, food, play and performance, ensuring they all become a part of the new Earls Court.
Up to three million people a year used to visit the area, creating and supporting thousands of businesses and jobs. We have a responsibility to once again be a force for economic prosperity, addressing inequalities.
We will start by working with what is already here, using our land and buildings to bring in activity, enterprise and culture, trial the technologies of the future and begin to foster a new sense of identity for the site.
We will:
• Provide homes for people of all ages and walks of life.
• Create workspaces for new industries and growth technologies, including science and research.
• Generate jobs and opportunity with a focus on economic inclusion.
What does ‘wonder’ mean to you?
8. What historic uses on the site would you most like to see embraced in planning for the future?
9. Which age groups do you think are most underprovided for in the area at the moment?
10. Do you have any specific ideas to ‘bring the wonder back to Earl’s Court’?
Priority 3 Create a better piece of city
Our third priority is to create a better piece of city – a blueprint for future generations. The Covid-19 pandemic has vastly accelerated the changing trends in the way we live and work, the adoption of new technologies and how we want to interact with our surroundings. We want to imagine what a future urban development can and should look like, and bring that to life.
LIVE WORK CULTURE
Earls Court will be the first major piece of city designed entirely with this understanding in mind.
We have the opportunity to create something truly outstanding, resilient and adaptable, befitting of this extraordinary and strategically important part of our capital city.
We shall also continue to make use of the site and buildings to trial activities and technologies, both while progressing our masterplans and in the early development phases. For example, we are currently looking at providing affordable workspaces for start-ups at Empress Place.
types of jobs would most interest you?
could we do to help your health and wellbeing in the local area?
Do you have any ideas for new technology that we should be embracing at Earls Court?
We are spending more time working from home. Offices and workspaces are being used differently.
Both buildings and neighbourhoods need to be more flexible to accommodate and adapt to future changes.
The nature of shopping is evolving.
Priority 4 Addressing the climate emergency
Our fourth priority is to address the climate emergency with an ambition to go beyond net-zero.
We are already learning from the best innovations across the world, bringing these to site where achievable and embracing measurable outcomes from the outset.
We have already joined the UN’s Race to Zero, committing to actions in line with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5oC.
We believe is it possible to make a beneficial contribution and become a carbon-positive development. That is one which, over time, overcomes the embodied energy used during its construction.
We are also committed to seeking to address issues including local air quality, with a landscape-led approach to introduce nature, wildlife and green spaces to create a welcoming new environment.
The climate emergency is the defining issue of our time and yet development of buildings, and their operation, are estimated to contribute 11% and 28% respectively to global CO2 emissions.
Both Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham Councils have set targets for their own activities to be net-zero carbon by 2030.
Renewable energy production is equal to energy use & emissions of the development
Renewable energy production is greater than energy use & emissions of the development
Tell us what you think:
15. How concerned are you about the climate emergency and environmental issues?
16. What are your environmental priorities?
17. Do you have any specific initiatives or ideas that you would like to see us embrace at Earls Court?
