Hammersmith Civic Campus to Begin Opening This Month
Former town hall site on King Street scheduled to be complete by summer
Construction still ongoing at Civic Campus site
June 13, 2025
Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s Civic Campus is to begin opening this month with the project to be fully complete by the summer.
The flagship scheme, which will redevelop the former town hall site on King Street into a complex with restaurants, rooftop bars and work spaces, has been described by the council as “one of Britain’s most exciting new arts, cultural, business, government and community quarters.”
The campus will also deliver amenities including a new cinema, an art gallery and a refurbished town hall. A 204-home residential block, 52 per cent of which are affordable, is already finished.
The completion of the scheme, approval for which was granted in 2019, has however been hit by delays. Most notably, in 2022, progress was hampered by an accident on-site in which steel was dropped by a subcontractor, seriously injuring two builders.
Council Leader Stephen Cowan has also publicly highlighted pressures such as Brexit which have contributed to the opening coming several years later than initially planned. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed last September that council staff were told on an internal call they were to begin relocating to the Civic Campus in early 2026, with an opening to the public expected in March.
At Cabinet earlier this week, following a question from Conservative Opposition Leader Cllr Jose Afonso asking when the “town hall” is expected to open, Cllr Cowan provided a further update.
He said, “The Civic Campus, not the town hall, because it’s no longer [just] a town hall, will begin to open this month, but different parts of it will open in different sequences. So, the initial answer is it will begin to open this month and it will finally be completed by the summer.”
Cllr Afonso also noted the project’s “three-year delay and millions overspent wasn’t really mentioned” in Cabinet papers.
Cllr Cowan reiterated the delay is largely due to the 2022 incident, following which he said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) shut down the site to carry out an investigation.
“That lost us the time,” he said. “That is being made up very rapidly and those costs are being covered. It’s a minimal overspend, it’s not millions…in real terms, it’s a very minimal overspend.”
CGI of the plans for the new Civic Campus in Hammersmith. Picture: RSHP
Cllr Cowan added that the current scheme is to be delivered at a “significantly lower cost” than the one the Labour administration inherited from its Conservative predecessors. This point was raised in an amended motion presented at January’s Full Council.
It detailed how the combination of the accident, Brexit, the pandemic and ‘Liz Truss’ Fiscal Event’ had contributed to ‘marginally’ higher costs than originally planned.
However, it continued, “The Council also notes that despite these marginally higher final costs, the overall costs of the new Hammersmith and Fulham Civic Campus is still significantly lower than the controversial Hammersmith Town Hall scheme which this borough’s former Conservative administration had previously saddled the borough with.”
A council spokesperson previously told the LDRS, “The Civic Campus will deliver one of Britain’s most exciting new arts, cultural, business, government and community quarters. It will boost the borough’s economy and – in line with our Upstream London vision – deliver inclusive growth for the benefit of all residents.
“It will be a fully accessible space, co-designed with residents, and an environmentally positive development, featuring solar panels and innovative ground source heat pumps. Residents have already started moving into the new homes of which more than 50 per cent are genuinely affordable.
“Council staff will start working from the Civic Campus early in the new year as we finalise the works to provide a modern new quarter where people can live, work, play and relax.”
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter
Value Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |