Chiswick Business Park

Chiswick Business Park
View from Chiswick High Road in May 2005 with building 12 in the foreground
Map
General information
TypeBusiness park
AddressChiswick High Road
Town or cityGunnersbury
CountryEngland
Coordinates51°29′N 0°17′W / 51.49°N 0.28°W / 51.49; -0.28
Current tenantsSee below
CompletedSeptember 2015
OwnerChina Investment Corporation
Design and construction
Architecture firmRogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
DeveloperStanhope
Structural engineerArup
Main contractorLendlease
Website
www.enjoy-work.com

Chiswick Business Park is a business park in Gunnersbury, West London, fronting on to Chiswick High Road.

History

Lake and landscaping in August 2019

Bus maintenance site

The land on which the Chiswick Business Park was built had been owned by the Rothschild family and planted as orchards in the 19th century.[1] In 1921, the London General Omnibus Company opened a 33-acre bus maintenance facility on a site bounded by Chiswick High Road to the south, the North London line to the east and the Piccadilly line to the north.[2] At its peak it employed 3,500 men, by 1985 it was down to 700.[3] It was closed by London Regional Transport in 1990.[4]

Design and construction

In 1990–1991, architects Terry Farrell & Partners designed a master plan for a Stanhope and Trafalgar House consortium for the site with buildings designed by Foster Associates and Peter Foggo around the main piazza, and others by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and ABK Architects around a smaller square to one side.[5][6][7][8] Outline planning permission was granted in 1991 for 11 buildings to be built.[9]

In 1996, Kværner took ownership of the site, selling it in 1999 to the Chiswick Park Unit Trust led by Schroders and Aberdeen Property Investors with Stanhope as development manager.[10] Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners was commissioned to prepare a new master plan. The first building was completed at the Chiswick High Road end in December 2000 with a further 11 built in stages, the last being completed in September 2015.[7] Buildings range in height from four to twelve floors.[11]

The Chiswick Park Unit Trust sold the park to the Blackstone Group in January 2011.[12][13] Blackstone sold the property to China Investment Corporation in January 2014.[14][15] Blackstone retained ownership of building 7, until selling it in February 2020 to Stanhope, while building 8 is owned by Abrdn.[16][17]

Footbridge

Main article: Chiswick Park Footbridge

Chiswick Park Footbridge, to the north of the Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve, was opened in January 2019 to connect the business park with Chiswick Park tube station.[18]

Reception

The Buildings of England calls the architectural lineup "a galaxy of famous names", contrasting the park's coherent layout with the unplanned office blocks that had "sprouted up haphazardly" in the rest of Gunnersbury.[5]

Tenants

Tenants in 2021 include CBS, Danone, Ericsson, Foxtons, IMG, Intelsat, Otis, Paramount Pictures, PepsiCo, Seadrill, Singapore Airlines, Starbucks, Tullow Oil and United International Pictures.[19] Richmond, The American International University in London announced they would be moving into the business park in September 2022.[20]

References

  1. ^ "Chiswick Park" (PDF). Stanhope. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  2. ^ New Training Ground for London Transport's Bus Drivers Truck & Bus Transportation April 1938 page 31
  3. ^ Chiswick works future in doubt Commercial Motor 8 February 1986
  4. ^ Companion to Road Passenger Transport History. Walsall: Roads & Road Transport History Association. 2013. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-0-9552876-3-3.
  5. ^ a b Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1991). The Buildings of England. London 3: North West. London: Penguin Books. p. 406. ISBN 978-0-14-071048-9. OCLC 24722942.
  6. ^ Chiswick Park Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
  7. ^ a b Chiswick Park Stanhope
  8. ^ We are 20 Chiswick Business Park
  9. ^ Application Hounslow London Borough Council 23 March 2004
  10. ^ Orbis makes safe bet with clear favourite Savills 8 January 2010
  11. ^ Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners unwraps huge Chiswick office Architects' Journal 28 September 2015
  12. ^ Ruddick, Graham (6 January 2011). "Chiswick Park to be sold for £480m". The Daily Telegraph.
  13. ^ Blackstone set to buy £480m Chiswick Park Estates Gazette 7 January 2011
  14. ^ "CIC set to buy London business park from Blackstone". Financial Times. 10 November 2013. Archived from the original on 4 February 2019.
  15. ^ CIC completes Chiswick Park buy Estates Gazette 7 January 2014
  16. ^ Blackstone sells Chiswick Park building to Stanhope Property Week 17 February 2020
  17. ^ Standard Life nears QVC Chiswick Park HQ buy Estates Gazette 21 August 2013
  18. ^ Chiswick Park Footbridge Opens Chiswick Business Park 24 January 2019
  19. ^ "Guests". Chiswick Business Park. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  20. ^ "A new home for Richmond". Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.

Media related to Chiswick Park at Wikimedia Commons