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300 Harrow Road

Built

New housing in Westminster, the tenure was changed mid-construction by the elected Labour council from being 50% for private sale to 100% affordable rent – the majority for social rent.

A residential-led, mixed-use scheme for Westminster City Council, Harrow Road is an ambitious regeneration project intrinsically focused upon placemaking and substantially enhancing the social environment for the local community in Paddington. The development comprises of three blocks and extensive landscaping - all allowing for the re-provision of existing community facilities, a nursery, new public realm, commercial spaces, and crucially 112 new homes.

"At 300 Harrow Road, we are proud to have delivered a landmark development that creates truly affordable, energy-efficient, family-sized homes which are vital for Westminster’s residents.

"The scheme exemplifies the Council’s commitment to a Fairer Westminster, creating not only a 100% affordable scheme that improves residents' quality of life, but investment in facilities such as an enterprise space, nursery and café that will benefit the local community."
James Green, Director of Regeneration and Development - Strategy, Westminster City Council


“The proposals for 300 Harrow Road are some of the best I’ve seen, it is a remarkably good scheme, very imaginative, and the overall development is so impressive.”
Cllr Guthrie McKie, City of Westminster Planning Committee


“Harrow Road is a fantastic illustration of a local authority showing imagination and ambition with existing council land. The project supports a thriving and active neighbourhood by carefully balancing the provision of community facilities, promoting economic growth, and critically, new affordable homes. It shows how good quality design can help unlock latent opportunity on existing brownfield land despite complex constraints.

“The starting point for the scheme was understanding what surrounds the site and how this redevelopment may unlock some of the latent potential. Physical and visual connections to the canal and park were poor. By forging a new route from the south of the site, we have opened up a new pedestrian connection that also allows a view of the canal for the first time. The new plaza space at the junction of Harrow Road provides much improved access into the park as well as a generous civic space with spill-out space from the new café.

“The extensive improvements to the wider landscape and public realm capitalise on the canal and provide benefit for the wider community, demonstrating the possibilities of civic-led development. The centrepiece of the scheme is a fantastic new play space, which replaces a car park. At the outset of the project, we identified a lack of play facilities within the wider area. The opportunity to address that shortfall was felt to be something that would benefit the existing community, not just new residents. By grasping opportunities beyond the site boundary, new development can positively impact whole neighbourhoods and beyond.

“To address the varied scale and character of the surrounding context we split the built accommodation into three main blocks. The tallest element references and relates to the 60s tower blocks, acting as a marker at the key junction of the canal and Harrow Road. The massing then steps down in height, stitching into the lower context to the south. A palette of harmonious but varied brick tones helps articulate the three main blocks. Glazed brick and terracotta are used as an accent material across all three blocks, helping to tie together the overall development.”
James Felstead, Director, Child Graddon Lewis

New London Awards 2024

New London Awards 2024

Highly commended in the Housing category

Supported by the Mayor of London, the New London Awards celebrate all scale of projects, from community-led to large-scale mixed-use developments, both built and unbuilt, that contribute to the creation of a more sustainable, civilised, and egalitarian London. 

London Tall Buildings Survey 2021

London Tall Buildings Survey 2021

A residential-led, mixed-use scheme for Westminster City Council, Harrow Road is an ambitious regeneration project intrinsically focused upon placemaking and enhancing the social environment for the local community in Paddington. The development comprises of three blocks and extensive landscaping—all allowing for the re-provision of existing community facilities, a nursery, new public realm, commercial spaces, and crucially 112 new homes. The two core themes of this project are re-provision and densification. The dwellings incorporate demand reduction measures to target a 10 percent improvement over Part L 2013, without reliance on low and zero carbon energy technologies.
Height: 53m
Number of storeys: 16
Resilient London: confronting climate change

Resilient London: confronting climate change

A residential-led, mixed-use scheme for Westminster City Council, Harrow Road is an ambitious regeneration project comprising of three blocks and extensive landscaping, allowing for the re-provision of existing community facilities, a nursery, new public realm, commercial spaces, and 112 new homes. The project is based around a new green heart at the centre of the scheme. Designed as a playable landscape that links the new amenity to the existing canalside park, these new facilities will provide an attractive focal point for the local community. The passive design of the dwellings has been developed to balance daylighting, heat losses and heat gains. An Air Source Heat pump (ASHP) is sized to meet 60 per cent of the heating demand, with gas-fired boilers meeting the residual 40 per cent.

#ResilientLondon

Project information

Status

Built

Borough

Westminster

Size

12677 sq m

Completion

January 2024


Location

300 Harrow Rd, London W2 5HG, UK


Team Credits

Architect

Child Graddon Lewis

M&E / Sustainability Engineer

Stantec

Contractor

Willmott Dixon

Project Manager

WSP

Landscape Architect

Gillespies

Client

City of Westminster


Listed by

Child Graddon Lewis

Last updated on

28/07/2025