Chiswick Tower Co-living Redevelopment Approved
Step-Free access at Gunnersbury Station protected in plans
A visualisation of a potential design for Gunnersbury Station platform. Picture: Grimshaws
December 5, 2025
Councillors on Hounslow’s Planning Committee voted unanimously on Thursday, 4 December to approve plans to redevelop 389 Chiswick High Road (Chiswick Tower), paving the way for hundreds of new co-living units, social housing, and public realm improvements.
The scheme, submitted under application P/2025/0794, will convert the existing 19-storey Chiswick Tower from offices into 394 co-living rooms with shared amenities and 486 sqm of co-working space. A new nine-storey annex building will replace the current two-storey structure, providing 23 social rent homes. The development also includes children’s play areas, landscaped public spaces, and improvements to the entrance of Gunnersbury Station.
The approved designs provide safeguards for future upgrades to Gunnersbury Station, which currently suffers from congestion and lacks step-free access. However, the developer is not committing to pay for any upgrades, rather it is only ensuring that no work is done at the site which might prevent it happening.
The developer has agreed, via a Section 106 legal agreement, to reserve part of the site for station improvements for 25 years, with a trigger point at year 13 to establish a design.
Two preliminary designs have been drawn up by the architectural firm Grimshaws including a baseline design with enlarged station entrance, one 21-person lift, additional staircases, and improved concourse space. There is also an enhanced Design with wider public routes, two lifts for step-free access, relocated ticket office, expanded concourse, and extended platforms to ease passenger flow.
Both designs would deliver step-free access, a long-standing demand from residents and campaigners, while also tackling overcrowding during peak hours. The safeguarding agreement is supported by Transport for London (TfL) and Network Rail, though funding for the works has not yet been secured.
The approval comes despite objections from local MPs Andy Slaughter and Ruth Cadbury, who warned that the influx of residents could add further pressure to Gunnersbury Station without immediate capacity improvements. The West Chiswick and Gunnersbury Society offered conditional support, welcoming the safeguarding of land for station works but urging that phasing of the wider site be tied to delivery of transport upgrades.
A visualisation of the tower looking west along Chiswick High Road. Picture: Grimshaws
Councillors ultimately backed the scheme endorsing the recommendation to approve in the report from council planners presented to the meeting, noting that the legal agreement ensures the station land is protected for future redevelopment, and that the proposal represents an improvement over the fallback option of 181 residential units with fewer community benefits.
Labour councillor John Stroud Turp, who sits on the committee said, “Sadly we’re stuck with a horrible tower block in Chiswick and we can either demolish it or do something useful with it. I don’t think we can get better than this, given the assurance from the developer”.
With approval granted, the developer must now complete the Section 106 and Section 278 agreements, covering affordable housing contributions, transport, ecology, and public realm works. Construction is expected to begin in phases, with completion of the first stage by 2029.
Although the plan does not block any future upgrade of Gunnersbury station, it does not provide any fund for an upgrade. The feasibility work done so far remains high level with no detailed designs or costings and neither the station owner Network Rail or Transport for London have funding available for this station.
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