Plans Submitted for Two Commerce Road Tower Blocks
Buildings up to 12 storeys high will include 124 social housing flats
A visualisation of the proposed blocks as seen from Great West Road. Picture: Karakusevic Carson Architects
May 9, 2025
Hounslow Council has submitted an application (P/2025/1313) to build two blocks of social housing on Commerce Road which will be 12 and 11 storeys high.
The development will include 124 flats of which 57 will be two bedroom, 31 each will be one and three bedroom and there will be 5 four bedroom units.
The former bus depot site was transferred to the council for £1 as part of the Brentford Lock West development of which this scheme forms part of the third phase.
The council allocated £500,000 from its Council House Building programme contingency budget in October 2023 which was used to appoint Karakusevic Carson Architects to develop the designs. The project already had outline planning permission for what was known as Block B in 2018 and public consultation events were held on the project in January this year.
The designs have been changed since the original outline consent to take account of the changes to fire regulations in the Building Safety Act which mandated that buildings above 18 metres had to have a second escape staircase. It was therefore decided to submit a standalone application and not, as originally intended, as part of a broader application for the whole phase. The new designs have been developed in consultation with the landowner Waterside Places which will be taking forward the rest of the phase outside Block B.
An aerial view of the two proposed tower blocks. Picture: Karakusevic Carson Architects
The council’s own planning department will consider the application which also includes communal and private amenity space, cycle parking and landscaping of the area.
The first phase of the development occupies the southern portion of the Brentford Lock West masterplan and comprises 150 residential units and 497sq.m of commercial space across 5 new blocks. This was completed in 2016 and two years later the second phase was finished which included 157 flats across blocks ranging from 5-7 storeys. The third phase is expected to comprise 452 flats including the 124 social housing units in this application.
The site is currently surrounded by hoardings and has been cleared of the warehouses and former bus depot that occupied it. Ground remediation works have been completed and site-wide services have been connected. Previously there was an agreement with Muse Developments which allowed them to continue to use the site as a building compound to enable the rest of Phase 3 until 2026.
The site to be developed is shown as Block B above. Picture: Hounslow Council
It is anticipated that, should approval be promptly secured that construction of the new buildings will begin early next year. The council needs to commence work by then to draw down Right to Buy receipts which are funding 40% of the project with the rest coming from borrowing.
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