Site location
The Paddington Green Police Station is located on the important gateway junction of Edgware and Harrow Road. Sitting north of the Paddington Basin, the surrounding community includes a range of uses all feeding into an active, buzzing area; Paddington Green and the City of Westminster College are located to the west, the Church Street Market to the east, and it is a short walk to the local Royal Parks.
The area has a rich history. The first building recorded on the site was the White Lion Public House, built in 1524. In the mid-19th century, the public house became a concert hall, being expanded and renamed as the Metropolitan Music Hall in 1864. Rebuilt again in the late 1890s, the Metropolitan became one of London’s most well-known variety theatres until it closed in 1963. The site is also close to the ‘Joe Strummer subway’, where The Clash founding member busked before finding fame with the band.
The existing building
The former Paddington Green Police Station is a 1970s building that was previously owned by the Metropolitan Police. The Metropolitan Police Service vacated the building and in 2018 the station closed.
Newcastle Place is a cut-through to the rear of the police station, historically used by the police, and never as a true thoroughfare. We want to pedestrianise this area, seizing the opportunity to create beautiful public realm.
The current building is unwelcoming and does not make the most of this well-placed location. It is no longer fit for purpose and is in need of regeneration to provide something that can contribute positively to this unloved corner of Westminster. This site presents the opportunity to bring forward much-needed affordable homes.
Bought by Berkeley in 2020, this site now presents the opportunity to create a new, diverse and vibrant neighbourhood, with lively and welcoming public spaces at ground floor level.
West End Gate Masterplan
Berkeley acquired West End Gate (WEG) in 2015. We worked with the local community and Westminster City Council to bring forward a masterplan to transform the local area, with over 840 homes, of which 175 are affordable, alongside shops, restaurant space and a beautiful public plaza. Underpinning the mix of uses is a focus on public realm, placemaking and high quality, sustainable architecture. West End Gate lies immediate to the north of the Paddington Green Police Station site. It is an important neighbouring site, and our proposals at the former police station will relate and connect to WEG.
628 homes have already been delivered, including several blocks of affordable housing (130 affordable homes) that have been taken on by Westminster City Council, accommodating residents who have been relocated from neighbouring Church Street. We are now five years into the project, having obtained planning, started on site and had our first homes completed with residents now moved in.
The proposals will deliver enhanced connectivity to the Paddington Basin and contribute significantly to Westminster Council’s place making ambitions for the Edgware Road and Harrow Road junction, and through to Paddington.
‘I’m so proud to invite friends over now. I still have this disbelief that I’m living here. It’s my oasis in the chaos of London.’
Dushka, West End Gate Resident.
Read her story here.
