• British Land is proposing to deliver an office-led development at The Broadway Connection (formerly known as 10-40 The Broadway) opposite Ealing Broadway station.

• It would feature a new office building rising from 10 to 21 storeys, containing c 30,000 sqm NIA of office space, including affordable workspace, and ground-floor retail, which upon completion could be home to c.2,800 employees.

• As part of the proposals, BL are committed to retaining and improving 12 existing buildings along the Broadway and providing a new, bigger and better venue for the historic Ealing Club to relocate to.

• A new courtyard lined with shops, cafes, restaurants and leisure space, will provide a route from the town centre to Ealing Broadway station and its Elizabeth Line services.

• From a cultural and social perspective:

• Provide a new, larger and more accessible space for the Ealing Club – one of Ealing’s most important cultural venues;

• Deliver new associated recording space for local artists;

• Introduce a better range of shops, restaurants and cafes; and,

• Create an attractive new courtyard as part of the route into the station that can be used as a social meeting space.

• Economically:

• Provide space for c.2,800 jobs, and a further c.252 jobs indirectly through construction;

• Generate over c.£250million in Gross Added Value to Ealing Broadway, strengthening the economic base of the town centre;

• Increase the Council’s business rates revenue by c.£3.8million per year, along with additional Council funding through S.106 obligations;

• Increase local spending by £7.7million per year; and,

• Deliver a number of local education, employment and training programmes to help local people benefit from the opportunities created.

• From a townscape and heritage perspective:

• Retain and restoring a number of prominent heritage buildings along the Broadway;

• Provide a new route through from the station into the town centre, along with additional pedestrian routes that will reduce pinch points in the town centre;

• Remove all servicing and deliveries from the Broadway; and,

• Improve the visual appearance of the area by removing unsightly buildings.

• In terms of environmental impact and performance:

• Create a net zero carbon development (as defined by UKGBC definition.) This includes limits to Whole Life Carbon (operational and embodied) and allowable offsets and ensuring the development is made from up to 50% recycled materials;

• Introduce new on-site planting to increase local biodiversity and help improve local air quality.

• We are proposing to keep:

• Buildings 9-16 The Broadway, which would be retained in their entirety, refurbished and upgraded with new shopfronts and retail frontage along The Broadway

• Buildings 25–29 The Broadway, which would be retained and see existing roofscape retained and new shopfront extensions to align with The Broadway buildings

• Building 35 which would have a new ground floor shopfront design developed to respond to passageway into the courtyard. 

• Each building and any extensions and adaptations we are proposing have been assessed against two key factors:

• Their architectural and historical contribution to the local townscape – with the aim to favour those elements with the most historical importance.

• The environmental cost of replacing part or the whole of a building – including the embodied carbon expended to create new structures and consideration of the fact that modern buildings often performing better than older ones

• These retained buildings sit closest to the Broadway and because of this we believe would be best used primarily as shops, restaurants, cafes and for leisure facilities like a gym, with potentially some new office space above.

• We believe that there is a need to deliver more office space and jobs in Ealing Town Centre which will help improve the wider prosperity of the Town Centre and the borough more generally. The site’s location, sat between Elizabeth Line services at Ealing Broadway station and the town centre, is perhaps the best opportunity to make this happen. 

• The Council, endorse this approach and have set out requirements to see 90,000sqm of new office space build in the town centre in the coming years. It also considers this site specifically as currently having a “comparatively low intensity of development” and therefore not utilising its full potential.

• Analysis shows that the scheme we are proposing could accommodate 2,800 jobs in end use, with a further 252 jobs created through construction. This in turn would boost spending in the town centre’s shops, restaurants and cafes by c.£7.7 million a year and help keep this place thriving.

• As one of the UK’s largest providers of office space, British Land has witnessed the birth of the new office, with more space required by businesses for an expansion in meeting rooms, breakout areas and quiet spaces for employees and clients.

• There is also a general ‘flight to quality’ whereby more occupiers are looking for spaces that are environmentally sustainable and that contribute to employee wellbeing – the exact type of office space that would be created by this scheme.

• In response nationally recognised industry standards, including those by British Council for Offices (BCO), are changing to include more generous space standards for office developments generally. The scheme is ‘future-proofed’ to meet these standards.

• Other areas in west London have proven popular with major occupiers such as Discovery Channel, Publicis and Unilever all moving out of central London to this part of the capital.

• Upon competition The Broadway Connection would be the main throughfare between Ealing town centre and Ealing Broadway Station, and could provide space for some 2,700 employees.

• The combination of on-site trade and passing footfall would be highly popular with retailers, which is why we have no doubt that having a combination of shops, restaurants, cafes and leisure spaces is right here.

• That said, in recognition of the changing role of our high streets, we are in fact proposing to reduce the amount of retail here by over half, compared to what there is today.

• Instead our focus will be on providing quality, especially in the retained buildings along the Broadway.

• There is a great need to focus on delivering jobs in Ealing Broadway to help improve the wider prosperity of the borough. The Council recognises the potential here and so have identified Ealing Broadway as a major location for new jobs and businesses, rather than homes.

• The scheme we are presenting today is at its highest is 21 storeys in height, stepping down to ten storeys as you get closer to the station and maximum of four storeys along The Broadway itself.

• Key factors include:

• Carving out a public courtyard and route through to the station

• Retaining key heritage buildings along the Broadway

• Stepping back massing from the Broadway to mitigate impact on the station

• Reducing the width of the taller element to minimise impact on views, particularly from Haven Green

• Positioning the upper proportion of the building so as to mitigate impact on the setting of Christ the Saviour Church

• Delivering the right amount of office space to change perceptions about Ealing’s role in the office market.

• A number of design measures have been proposed such as:

• Retaining existing buildings along The Broadway to ensure they remain at a similar scale to their surrounding high street context

• Stepping back massing from the Broadway to mitigate impact on the station

• Reducing the width of the taller element to minimise impact on views, particularly from Haven Green

• Positioning the upper proportion of the building so as to mitigate impact on the setting of Christ the Saviour Church.

• We are proposing to use a range of different materials to create a dynamic design and reduce the visual impact of the development.

• In terms of the new buildings we are proposing – the material and texture of the ten-storey building closest to Ealing Broadway Station references some of the key civic buildings in the surrounding area. The 21-storey element meanwhile is expressed with lighter, more reflective façade.

• As for the buildings we are proposing to retain, they will be restored using materials and techniques comparable to their existing construction and where possible using reclaimed materials. Any new buildings proposed along the Broadway are designed using complimentary materials, such a brick, to sit sensitively within their surrounding context.

• On the contrary, the materials we are proposing have a number of advantages such as creating solar protection and providing heat retention strategies that limit the amount of heating and cooling the building needs. Likewise, glass helps to maximise the light going into internal spaces, that limits the need to artificial lighting.

• This type of ‘passive’ design performance has been a key part of the architectural brief for the site.

• Yes, but this option however has a number of limitations, not least:

• It would be bulky and therefore we believe less preferable from a townscape perspective;

• Its floorplates would be too large, meaning that many of the spaces within it would receive less natural light and the building would be harder to lease; and,

• The route through would be covered.

• We are proposing to relocate the Ealing Club within the site through the delivery of a new, purpose-built and larger venue for the Ealing Club in the same location as it is today. We are working closely with the Ealing Club and as part of this we are exploring with them the option of creating some new recording space within the venue, something that it lacks at present, which could support local artists. This new space would be designed to meet modern standards for a facility of this type, helping to rectify a number of issues that the current venue suffers from, including issues around access and inclusivity, and inadequate sound insulation.

• We are aiming for this to be a net zero carbon development (as defined by UKGBC definition) and to be the most sustainable building of this type in the borough.

• To do this we have undertaken what is known as a ‘Whole Life Carbon’ approach, which seeks to limit both Embodied Carbon (emissions arising from the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials) and Operational Carbon (emissions due to a building’s energy consumption in end use).

• As part of our strategy, for example, we are seeking to limit the amount of embodied carbon expended by ensuring that as much as 50% of the new building is made from recycled materials, including those on site now. We are also creating an all-electric building – meaning there is no requirement to burn fossil fuels on site and helping contribute to better local air quality.

• We are seeking to limit the amount of embodied carbon expended by ensuring that as much as 50% of the new building is made from recycled materials, including those on site now.

• This is something that we are discussing with Ealing Council and we do intend to provide affordable workspace as part of our proposals.