Assael gets go ahead for first phase of 2,000-home Ealing project

Ealing Council has green-lit Assael Architecture’s plans for the first phase of a 2,000-home development in the west London boroughCouncillors approved proposals for 867 homes at the former Middlesex Business Centre site on Wednesday (1 March), with the planning officer recommending approval of the designs for Montreaux Developments.The Margarine Works scheme includes a 27-storey tower and a four-storey block with two courtyard spaces connected by a podium level and new urban realm by landscape architect Planit IE.The new buildings will hold a 180-bed hotel to the south-west of the plot – nearest Southall station – and the 867 new homes, of which 30 per cent will be affordable.The scheme also includes a tree-lined avenue and park for the site and its first 1.76ha first phase.The planning officer praised Assael’s use of design materials and acknowledgement of the site’s heritage as a former margarine factory in its concept. The architect has proposed different shades of brick for lower and taller elements of the scheme and concrete façade on the hotel.The wider Margarine Works is 4.82ha. Assael won outline planning for this masterplan in 2019, with the council backing demolition of mainly light industrial structures to be replaced by 2,000 new homes, public space and additional infrastructure.The practice also has outline planning for 2,690m 2 of flexible retail floor space and up to 10,100m 2 of flexible office and community space across the whole site, which it says will be made up of five ‘clearly defined’ areas. At its centre will be a new park called the Maypole.‘The locally listed Sunshine Studio – the only remaining structure from the former Margarine Works Factory on site – will be retained as part of the development, with the former giving its name and a façade to the plans. Most of the factory was demolished in the 1980s.Approval of the first phase of the Margarine Works development comes after councillors backed proposals for 1,997 new homes on the site of the nearby former Honey Monster factory by EPR Architects.Three other schemes also feature buildings of between five to 22 storeys and are part of efforts to redevelop Southall, which has connections to central London on the Elizabeth Line.Assael says work on the scheme will begin this year.