The London Transport Museum’s collection store in Acton, which houses the bulk of its collection could need to be rebuilt if plans to redevelop the site for housing go ahead.
As part of a larger housing development along the nearby Bollo Lane, TfL has identified that some additional land at Ealing Common also has the potential for development. However, it’s currently occupied by the London Transport Museum’s storage facility.
The museum store sits next to the District line train depot, giving it convenient access to the Underground tracks for its trains, while the remainder of the large building houses the buses, trams, and the ephemera stores.
TfL has now published a Prior Information Notice, which it says will help gauge market feedback on the developments and forms part of the process to help TfL find a joint venture property developer. A pre-application process that was undertaken with Ealing Council established that an acceptable residential density of around 800 new homes plus a replacement storage facility for the museum was viable.
Both the information notice and a TfL spokesperson have confirmed that any development on the site will have to take into account the requirements of the London Transport Museum.
A TfL spokesperson said: “Following submission of a planning application to deliver around 850 new homes, with 50 per cent affordable housing, along Bollo Lane in Acton, we have recently published a Prior Information Notice to provide prospective developers with information on this and possible future development opportunities in Acton. Any future proposals would need to accommodate London Transport Museum’s requirements and we look forward to the Museum welcoming visitors back to the depot when it reopens later this summer.”
The notice suggests the value of the 2.6-hectare site redevelopment could be worth at least £320 million. The neighbouring District line depot is not part of the development plans.
If they are able to find a developer able to combine a replacement museum depot with residential housing, it will be some time before planning applications are filed, and several years before construction starts.
In related news:
The Transport Museum has also announced that its first open days at the Acton depot following the lockdown will be for 10-days during the school holidays, rather than their usual occasional weekend openings.
The depot will be open between Wed 19th to Sun 23rd and Wed 26th to Sun 30th August.
Tickets need to be booked in advance here.
“need to accommodate” huh?
‘Yes, we’ve noted that the museum is there and are pleased to announce that we’ve struck a deal with the NRM York. As they’re both railway museums, going forward we feel that the synergies can’t be equalled.’
Not at all encouraged by that little phrase as you can see by my nightmare vision.
Still, if they decide to float a massive concrete plinth over the LTM’s Acton depot and stick blocks of flats on top, why not go the whole hog and do the same to the District line sheds? Likewise the massive engineering works to the south? Perhaps that would be past saturation point and the land values suffer. Something for the accounts department to salivate over “going forward” then.
JP It will be much more difficult to build over functioning train lines than a museum, plus you’d need to take them out of action while you do it. Air rights structures have been done to places like Charing cross but it’s a foaming nightmare.
As for building over the museum, the idea of a neighbourhood of flats built around a transport museum sounds quite fun to me.
£320m sounds optimistic value wise but say it ends up that the museum gets £5m of new facilities out of it, that could make a big difference… And while it might seem a shame to build over it… They are UNDERGROUND trains after all
Bravo!
Not worried about building over the museum per se.
Yes it’s a pain but it can be done.
I’m concerned that there’ll be some classic construction company fudge:
‘Mindful of the concerns of museum visitors, it is with great regret that we announce that the studies concluded that it has to be moved. As demolition has already started, it wd be a waste of precious resources to turn back now.’
It’s happened time and again.
Don’t need more houses and the museum open and if you want to build look at the house that are empty
Who owns the property of the Acton Depot ?
If it’s TfL. we should be ashamed of their leadership.
TfL seems to be in dire financial trouble.
Will Privatisation solve their problems? ?
What would Lord Ashfield think if he was around!
remember 1933
What does Ealing Borough & Planning say about all this?
TfL says Ealing Council have agreed 800 flats could be built on the site
. Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that they have drawn up plans for a huge development on the Ealing Common Depot site.
. It has published a notice asking developers to submit indications of interest in being a partner in both the scheme already submitted for planning permission on Bollo Lane and a similar sized scheme to the north of Acton Town station.
. The latter project will be on TfL-owned land running adjacent to the District/Piccadilly line train tracks behind the Ark Acton Academy. It is currently occupied by operational tenants and is home to London Transport Museum (LTM) storage facility. The operational buildings will be vacated prior to disposal however a replacement storage facility for the LTM will be provided as part of the development proposals. The anticipated development value for the site is in the region of GBP 320 million.
. TfL has already had preliminary discussions with Ealing Council and the Greater London Authority and density levels have been agreed which would allow the building of 800 flats. This strongly suggests that the development would include very tall buildings as the land available for development at the Ealing Common Depot site is slightly smaller than the Bollo Lane site where the tallest tower will be 25 storeys.
. The two projects combined would mean 1,700 flats in the area as well as over 2 000 m2 of commercial employment space, around 500 m2 for shops. TfL said they would consider tendering both sites as a package with a single developer responsible for both. The nearby District line depot is not part of the development plans.
. A TfL spokesperson said, “Following submission of a planning application to deliver around 850 new homes, with 50 per cent affordable housing, along Bollo Lane in Acton, we have recently published a Prior Information Notice to provide prospective developers with information on this and possible future development opportunities in Acton. Any future proposals would need to accommodate London Transport Museum’s requirements and we look forward to the Museum welcoming visitors back to the depot when it reopens later this summer.”
. It is understood that TfL are accelerating the development of their landbank as a result of financial pressures following the drop in revenue during the Covid-19 outbreak.
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