Council Says Yes to Uxbridge Road Shroud
Unusual decision allows 'building wrap' to cover town centre building
A visualisation of how the shroud might look from the application
July 31, 2023
Hammersmith & Fulham Council has given its approval to an application to cover 54 Uxbridge Road, the prominent corner building overlooking Shepherd’s Bush Green next to Shepherd’s Bush Station, with a shroud.
The shroud, which will display an exact photographic image of the building hidden behind plus an illuminated advertisement, will cover scaffolding for eight months while the building is reroofed and repaired.
Blow Up Media, a company specialising in ‘building wraps’ has made a string of applications to cover building sites across the borough with shrouds containing advertising panels. These shrouds are becoming increasingly common as owners and developers look for ways of helping to pay their building costs.
H&F Council has turned down most of the applications, with grounds for refusal including visual overdominance and safety issues, saying they can create a distraction for drivers.
However, 54 Uxbridge Road - which is designated a Building of Merit - is unusual, as it has twice before been granted consent for a shroud during building work - firstly in 2013 and again in 2016. On both occasions, the applications were refused by the Council, but subsequently granted at appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
Following the appeal in 2016, Planning Inspector David Leeming said: “ In my judgement the proposed shroud and advertisement would be more attractive than the likely alternative of unadorned and unsightly scaffolding. Therefore, the proposal, for a temporary period whilst scaffolding is in place, would have a broadly neutral effect which would preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area and thus would not harm visual amenity.”
54 Uxbridge Road as it is now
A report to this month’s Planning and Development Control Committee, which can be read in full at here says: " Given the two previous allowed appeal decisions for the display of an advertisement panel on a scaffold shroud for a temporary period in connection with repair works, which are considered to have significant weight in the overall planning judgement, it is recommended that Advertisement Consent for an eight month period is granted.”
The report acknowledges that there is “considerable pressure” to display these advertisement panels on scaffold shrouds on roads around our borough and so the Council must exercise caution when considering them.
It continues: “ The Council has previously granted consent in circumstances such as where a listed building or Building of Merit is in danger of becoming at risk and where there is no realistic prospect of alternative funding sources to arrest the decline in the condition of the building or resolve a heritage deficit arising from a backlog of repairs.
“ In those cases it was considered that short term harm to visual amenity was outweighed by the long term benefit of securing the future of the heritage asset.
“ The Building of Merit is not considered to be 'at risk', but repairs would be desirable and consistent with preserving its significance and that of the Conservation Area. The proposed repair works relate to roof coverings, leadwork and external decorations.
“ The proposed sign would be displayed at first and second-floor level and would form a large and highly visible element in the streetscene, especially in views from the east and when externally illuminated at night. However, it would be temporary and only displayed for the duration of the proposed repair works.”
If the committee had refused permission on this occasion, it is likely that Blow Up Media would once again launch an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, as it has over two other recent applications for shrouds in Fulham’s North End Road and at the junction of North End Road and West Cromwell Road.
Justifying these shrouds and integral advertisements, the company’s brochure says, “ Building sites can have style. We take unattractive development sites and transform them into active urban spaces creating beautiful, yet in keeping, building wraps that enhance the visual amenity of public spaces for everyone.”
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