£60 Million Upgrade of Hammersmith Police Station to Start by End of Year

Building company Wates appointed to refurbish 1930s building in Shepherd's Bush Road

Building company Wates has been appointed to refurbish Hammersmith Police Station, with work expected to start by the end of this year.

The £60 million scheme, with a design by RSP Architects, will see Wates refurbish the existing 1930s Grade II listed station on Shepherd’s Bush Road, the borough's only full time police station.

The project will also include the construction of an adjoining new-build custody facility and flexible office space, in addition to basement car parking and stables for the Mounted Branch.

Roger Harding, Director of Real Estate Development at the Metropolitan Police Service, said: " Hammersmith Police Station is an important site for the MPS, but its current configuration fails to provide a modern policing facility and is in need of significant investment.

" Working with Wates, who have a track record on refurbishing and expanding our police stations and custody centres, we will significantly enhance Hammersmith Police Station by making it a more modern, secure facility with an efficient use of space to allow for flexible working, whilst reduce the running costs of the estate so that, money can be re-directed into front-line policing."

Police say during the improvement works, neighbourhood policing teams will continue to operate as normal, working from other locations including the Empress State Building in Lillie Road and Shepherd’s Bush Police Station.

Completion of the project is expected towards the end of 2018.

The upgrade of Hammersmith Police Station was first announced last autumn by Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent Gideon Springer in a letter to local councillors.

In the letter, he confirmed that Hammersmith Police Station was to become the borough's only 24 hour station. saying: " In Hammersmith & Fulham, as elsewhere in London, we are keen to reduce costs by making our estate use as efficient as possible whilst delivering on all of the commitments that I have set out above.

" We now have some specific plans. These plans will mean that we are making significant investment in Hammersmith Police Station and changing the focus of Fulham Police Station to make better use of that site, whilst retaining the front counter.

" Hammersmith Police Station, in the centre of the Borough, is an important site for us, but its current configuration fails to provide a modern policing facility. We have wasted space and cannot, as it stands, achieve our ambitions to operate in a digitally enabled twenty-first century fashion.

" We would therefore like to make major improvements to the existing building to deliver new state-of-the-art facilities including a new 30 cell custody suite – as well as improved and expanded stables that would maintain the popular presence of mounted police in the Hammersmith area.

" Modernising Hammersmith Police Station, whilst requiring investment up front, will reduce the running costs of the estate and also make more efficient use of space and allow for a more flexible workspace. It will also have the benefit of demonstrating our long term commitment to a substantial physical presence in the Borough.

" The new Hammersmith Police Station will be our 24/7 Front Counter as now."

You can read his statement in full here.

June 10, 2016