Ambitions for Notting Hill Gate Town Centre

TDRC was commissioned by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea to design and manage a public consultation strategy on the future of Notting Hill Gate.  As the town centre had become outdated and incoming planning applications for tall buildings were challenging the skyline, the strategy enabled local residents and business owners to shape a new development brief for the town centre.

The strategy developed options to ‘Refurbish, Refresh or Rethink?’ the town centre through potential new development sites, improving notable local buildings, and making public transport and access arrangements more pedestrian-friendly, especially given the proximity of popular tourist destinations such as Kensington Palace and Gardens, and Portobello Road Market.

The consultation programme included workshops on an interactive model of the town centre, allowing participants to test ideas for redeveloping sites at different heights and to see potential impacts on the neighbourhood’s character. Ideas were also mapped around hot-spots in the local street network, where pedestrians – local or visiting, cyclists, car traffic and public transport services needed to be re-designed together, to reduce traffic dominance and improve the atmosphere of local streets. Thinking about how best to use possible development contributions ranged from a potential new cultural centre, to relocating the entrance to Notting Hill Gate underground station.

The public consultation strategy attracted a great response, including coverage in the Evening Standard, and gave the Council clear principles for the subsequent draft Supplementary Development Document.