Restored Palladium on Shepherd's Bush Green Nominated for Award
Sawley Road Green Project also recognised by The Hammersmith Society
The Palladium next to the former Walkabout pub. Picture: Ewan Munro
The restored Palladium, on the west side of Shepherd’s Bush Green, has been nominated for the top prize in The Hammersmith Society’s 60th Anniversary Environment Awards.
It is one of two very different schemes in W12 to receive nominations. The Green Project in Sawley Road, run by a group of local residents, is up for the Jane Mercer Award, which is for initiatives of benefit to Hammersmith which have involved proactive co-operation, collaboration and communication.
The society includes Shepherd’s Bush as it covers the Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith as it was when it was founded in 1962 - approximately the eight upper wards of the current borough.
The historic Palladium, which was built in 1910 and was once home to the Cinematograph Theatre, one of London’s earliest cinemas, has been nominated for The Environment Award, which The Hammersmith Society describes as its coveted award for the development which best meets its ideals.
The restored building has a plaque describing its long history as a cinema under different owners before its most recent incarnation as the popular Walkabout Pub.
It has now been redeveloped, retaining its original facade, to create an eight storey building with apartments and a restaurant linked to the adjacent hotel, which run by the same company, Dorsett Hospitality International.
The Grade II listed Dorsett Shepherd’s Bush was also once a former cinema and was itself a co-winner of The Environment Award in 2015.
The Sawley Road Green Project, on the south side of Wormholt Park, was set up two years ago by a group of independent residents with a love for gardening and community spirit, who say the core of their efforts is to make their neighbourhood more green and pleasant and invite volunteers to dig, devise, and or donate plants, seeds, gardening tools. You can contact the project through its web site.
Sawley Road Green Project was set up by local residents
In Hammersmith, King Street’s new Livat Centre - formerly Kings Mall - has been nominated for the Nancye Goulden Award, which is given to smaller schemes which have improved the local environment in some way – be it through a building or landscaping.
As well as the Livat Centre itself being nominated for improvements to the shopping centre, the planting on Ashcroft Square, above the centre, in cheerful yellow containers is also included in The Hammersmith Society’s nominations.
However, Cycleway 9, which is being constructed on the Hammersmith gyratory and on King Street has been nominated for a Wooden Spoon, which would mark it as 2022’s worst local scheme.
The Wooden Spoon, say the Society, is given to eyesores or projects that just got it all wrong and Cycleway 9, which aims to make cycling and walking easier, safer and more appealing is criticised for a number of missteps, including:
Concrete instead of planting, unsafe design and lack of consultation
Bus lane removal, pollution & delays, exclusive use for cyclists who it is claimed make up less than 3% of the population
As if to emphasise pedestrian dangers, the council’s solution to public concerns is ugly signs strewn along King Street.
H&F Council’s tree planting scheme is also nominated for a Wooden Spoon, with The Hammersmith Society saying, “ We were pleased to see the council replace some dead street trees in King Street and elsewhere in early 2021, but they sadly forgot to provide a means to keep them watered.
“ It’s estimated to take 20 litres a week to get a new tree established, watering bags are often provided around saplings for this reason.
“This tree planting exercise was a waste of taxpayers’ money: an additional £19 spent with the tree’s vendor, and some TLC, would have saved them. We adopted the sapling opposite Tesco last summer, and persuaded local restaurants to do similar for some others nearby, but it appears to have been too late by the time we noticed their parlous condition.”
The Hammersmith Society say they have been working to preserve and enhance our architecture and urban environment since 1962. The award scheme was launched in 1989 and is now a highlight of the society’s calendar.
Further nominations for awards - both positive and negative - are invited either by commenting on The Hammersmith Society’s website or by email to secretary@hammersmithsociety.org.uk. Nominations will close on Friday 20 May, and winners and wooden spoons will be announced at the Awards Evening and AGM on Wednesday 22 June.
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May 9, 2022