Gunnersbury Station may get step-free access as part of a housing development

Gunnersbury station in west London could get step-free access as part of a refurbishment of a local office block, according to a consultation about the plans.

The station, which is served by both London Overground and District line trains, is somewhat hidden behind the Chiswick Tower, a large office block. It didn’t used to be like that, as the station used to have a grand entrance building at street level set back from the main road by a side road for drop-offs.

However, in the late 1960s, the front of the station was redeveloped as Chiswick Tower, incorporating a smaller station entrance on the ground floor.

In addition, two large car parks were built on either side of the railway station, with a distinctive zig-zag pattern as seen from the platforms.

However, the tower is half-empty these days, and the remaining large office tenant is moving out soon. The building’s newish owner has now decided that it’s not viable to refurbish the tower as offices and wants to refurbish it into “co-living studios.”

Co-living is where people still have their own flats but also share some facilities.

A two-story annexe next to the tower would be demolished and replaced with a new block of flats, while the car parks would be closed and redeveloped as free-standing housing.

According to the consultation, the “development will also open the door for improvements to Gunnersbury Station, including step-free access to the platforms via a lift and increased capacity within the station itself.”

At this stage, it’s too early to say what the plans would involve, nor if the developer would fund them in full, or if the developer will provide space for the upgrades and then require Transport for London (TfL) to work out how to pay for the fit-out.

For the developer, having a step-free station on their doorstep will increase the desirability of the property development they are planning, so there are mutual benefits to ensuring it is provided as swiftly as possible. The DfT recently allocated funding to TfL to cover the costs of studying how to add step-free access to the station, so they will likely already be working with the developer on the proposals.

There had been some talk of an attempt to create a second entrance to the station at the far end, but that doesn’t appear to be in the scheme as proposed.

The consultation website says that they aim to submit the formal planning application later this year, and that’s when the details about how they will improve the area around the station and provide step-free access will become clearer.

The consultation website is here.