Acton

The Acton Town Hall regeneration project seeks to provide new and improved leisure, library, community and civic facilities at the Acton Town Hall complex where Acton Baths, Kings Rooms and Acton Town Hall Extension (the part of the Town Hall that runs along Uxbridge Road) are currently located.

Why is it needed?

The regeneration of the complex is needed because the buildings were built at the turn of the last century to serve a growing population in Acton. All of these buildings need significant repairs and have very high costs associated with ongoing maintenance. The regeneration of the site will allow for new modern facilities to be provided whilst considering the heritage assets.

What is proposed?

To build:

• a new 25 metre swimming pool and a trainer pool
• new leisure facilities including a larger gym
• a new library
• new community space 
• new council offices for adults, childrens and families services

Recent and current activities

Community involvement

Over 30 community members formed the Acton Town Hall Team in 2009. They worked with the council through a series of five workshops to explore opportunities for change on the site. The group is still active and the council meets with them at every stage of the project.
Acton Town Hall report

Advice from council’s property advisors

The council received advice from its property advisors, Cushman and Wakefield in August 2010. They recommends how the regeneration should be taken forward to make sure the brand new facilities are delivered at a minimum cost to the council and preserves the best of the heritage assets. The report includes details of an initial option for the site. Information gathered from the Acton Town Hall Team’s workshop was also incorporated in the initial option.
Cushman and Wakefield report

Project team

A project team was formed in September 2010 to take the project forward. S&P Architects were selected due to their expertise in designing leisure centres and also due to their involvement in designing Northolt Leisure Centre that opened in January 2010.

The project team liaised with community groups at the Priory Community Centre in November 2010 and with the relevant council services to identify their needs and space requirements. This lead to the architects drawing a set of initial options that they consulted on in March 2011. Option 5 was selected for the architects to produce a set of detailed design drawings.

• Initial options
  

Past consultation

Architects developed more detailed drawings of what the new centre might look like, including room sizes, layouts and how the building will look from the outside.

Five public meetings were held in July where people were able to look at the drawings, meet the project team and tell them what they think about the proposals so far.

View consultation reports

Supplementry Planning Document (SPD)

The SPD clarifies the council’s planning requirements and helps in the development of the site, giving greater certainty to prospective developers. It also gives guidance on important issues such as transport planning and conservation considerations.

Cabinet agreed to adopt the SPD as material consideration in June following a consultation period earlier in the year on a draft verison.

SPD, consultation statement and Representations

Timescales

Construction of the new leisure centre is targeted to start in Spring 2012, subject to planning approval. It is scheduled to finish in April 2014.

For more information please contact:
Shehzad Ahmed
Project Co-ordinator
Email: Ahmedshe@ealing.gov.uk
Tel: (020) 8825 9234