Massive Uxbridge Road Student Accommodation Block Proposed
20-storey building planned for site next to Fire Station
A visualisation of the Exchange Plaza scheme taken from the application documents
April 25, 2024
A planning application (241397FUL) has been submitted to Ealing Council to build a 20-storey development on a vacant plot on Uxbridge Road.
The proposal is for a mixed development comprising office space and over 500 student flats on the former Exchange Plaza site at 52-58 Uxbridge Road next to the fire station.
The designs were drawn up by Corstorphine & Wright (C&W) on behalf of the applicant, ASE II Ealing Ltd.
The plot on the corner of St. Leonard’s Road has been vacant since the six storey 1950s office block was demolished in 2019. An earlier proposal for a part 6 to 10 storey building was not taken forward.
The applicant is arguing that despite this area being known as Ealing’s ‘office corridor’, a building mainly given over to student flats is justified given the oversupply of office space and the shortage of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in Ealing. The site remains allocated for an ‘office-led’ development but a report by Savills into the local office market supports the case for a mixed use for the site with a ten storey office block stepping up to the larger tower housing the students.
The Exchange Plaza site on Uxbridge Road has been vacant since 2019
Another report submitted with the application states, “There is an established need for PBSA in Ealing where currently just 20% of 15,600 full-time students live in PBSA, with 45% living in the wider PRS market. By providing more PBSA across Ealing, this is
likely to free up more housing for local residents and families.
“Together with this, the proposed scheme will deliver high quality flexible and affordable office space which serves the SME target market, incorporating circa 7600sqm of office space, of which 399sqm is affordable, co-working space to support start-ups and entrepreneurs.”
There will also be a 144sqm of ‘flexible community space’ located on the corner of St Leonard’s and Uxbridge Road which may be made available to the local community.
A visualisation from the application documents shows promised public realm improvements
There are already a number of tall buildings on this stretch of Uxbridge Road including nearby Arc Tower which is 24-storeys high. The applicant says if the adjacent CP House scheme is built it will block most views of the site at 52-58 Uxbridge Road when seen from the South-West residential areas and Walpole Park.
There would be 504 PBSA units in the scheme equivalent to 200 residential units when calculated at the ratio set out in the London Plan. 35% of the flats will be classed as affordable and all will have access to internal and external amenity space.
If you wish to comment on the application, visit the planning section of the Ealing Council web site and search using the application reference 241397FUL.
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