27.09.23

Westminster City Council has formally approved the use of the name “St John’s Wood Square” for the new development.

This is bringing a historical name back into use. There was a “St. John’s Wood Square” nearly 200 years ago which was located at the junction of the High Street and Circus Road and appears in the famous Greenwood Map of London in 1827. The name was only used for a few years and the houses on the square became part of St. John’s Wood Terrace and Charles Lane.

The name “Square” also evokes memories of the parade square at the heart of the old Barracks.

In the future, we will propose additional names for the individual roads and walkway within the new development, to reflect local history, royal and military connections as well as the high quality of the new development. We look forward to sharing our ideas with local people.

28.06.23

NMA / S96A Submission – 23/06/22 and Listed Building Consent Application 23/06/22. 

Our various planning changes have now been lodged with Westminster City Council and can be found on the Council’s website  here: Listed Building Consent - 23/04417/LBC

and here: Non Material Amendment 23/04396/NMA

St John’s Wood Square is applying for changes to the current planning permission to make minor amendments to the project. Most of these changes are implementing changes in policy or guidelines to bring the scheme up to date with energy targets and fire safety regulations. 

24.05.23

The demolition work on the former barracks has finished. The construction work starts from the week of 22 May and will involve piling around the perimeter of the sie and excavation of space for the basement.

Piling rigs will be delivered to the site at the end of May.

The site entrance will now switch over to the Western side, with vehicles arriving via Finchley Road and Queen's Terrace (north branch). Vehicles will continue to exit the site via Ordnance Hill.

For more detailed information please see the April and May Newsletters.

08.03.23

Demolition of the former barracks buildings continued through February 2023. By early March, most of the perimeter buidings had been demolished as well as the former squash court attached to the western end of the Riding School.

Demolition started on the wall along Ordnance Hill, which was replaced first by "heras" style fencing, and then by a wooden hoarding.

With the protected bats having been removed from the attic of the former Officers' Mess, we started demolition of this building too.

In the Jubilee buildings, a small excavator (a Kubota KX037) was lifted into the structure to remove conrete floors, as the rest of the building was demolished by hand. This work will take several weeks to complete.

The next phases of demolition will see further work on the Officers' Mess and Jubilee buildings, and the removal of the boundary wall along the north-eastern side of the site, where it borders Rosetti Mews and Rosetti House.

26.01.23

Here is our weekly update from the St Johns Wood Square development, for the week commencing 23 January.

 Last week we started crushing the material from the demolished buildings, to build up stockpiles on site to help with the construction process.

 We weren’t able to move the protected bats because it was too cold – and still is – so that means work has not started on the demolition of the old Officers’ Mess.

 This week, we will continue crushing works within the central areas of the site. The stockpile will be built up within the old stable areas & spread to ensure equal loading to all areas to avoid heaping of material in small areas.

 Demolition works to the roof of the Jubilee building will continue on the north flank, adjacent to Queen’s Terrace. We will be working at high level from the scaffold & the roof itself dismantling the existing pitched roof.

 This is primarily a timber and slate construction which needs to be taken down by hand. We will also have operatives on the lower levels of the Jubilee Building installing back propping to provide support to the structure prior to the demolition of the structure below the third floor.

 This week we will start demolition works to the structure adjacent to the riding school. This is a sensitive job and we will use a top down methodology. The structure is already propped and scaffold protection works are underway. A 100 ton crawler crane will be on site to facilitate the works, lifting plant, waste etc.

 We will start the demolition of the eastern boundary wall on Ordnance Hill. Heras fencing will be erected on the footpath as segregation which will allow the 20 ton excavator to pull the wall inwards into site. We will also be working on the footpath undertaking the UK Power Networks works which consist of constructing a new plinth & fitting out a new enclosure.

 Scaffold works will continue to both the Jubilee building southern section and the south-eastern most structure adjacent to Ordnance Hill. These will allow other areas of demolition to be undertaken in the coming weeks.

 We are hosting our Community Liaison Meeting on Tuesday evening for community representatives. We will also be producing and circulating a monthly update to our database of 850 local households.

 Please do get in touch if we can be of any help or if you have any questions.

31.10.22

Start of demolition work

Work has finally started on the St Johns Wood Square project on Monday 31 October, with the first demolition of the old buildings.

St Johns Wood Square has chosen the well respected contractor McGee who have experience of complicated projects in sensitive locations, ranging from Claridge’s Hotel to Admiralty Arch.

McGee will be taking down existing buildings by hand, and also using machines such as a long-arm “muncher” excavator. Most of the rubble called “arisings” will be crushed and retained on the site to support the construction phase. Part of the initial works will also include erecting a scaffold on Queen’s Terrace to enable the demolition of the Jubilee Buildings from the Barracks side.

During demolition we will have monitors for dust, noise and vibration around the site and we will have to operate within strict limits. If the limits are ever breached, our team will immediately be notified and can tell all work to stop so we can investigate. We will have sprayed water and a special gel to keep dust down from the site, and we will also be using screens to minimise dust and noise.

Will Sutton, Project Manager for McGee, said: “McGee is incredibly proud to have been appointed on this prestigious project. While we understand the impact demolition can have on communities, we, as a business, are committed to leaving a positive legacy. It’s for this reason we look forward to working closely with SJWS and local residents to minimise disruption on the project. As site manager, I’m on hand to help, so don’t hesitate to contact me or one of the team if you would like more information or have any questions."

04.08.22

We continue to refine our designs for St John’s Wood Square as we prepare to commence the development later this year by demolishing the existing buildings and readying the site for construction. Following amendments made to the scheme in 2021, we have made two further minor amendments to the development which were approved by Westminster City Council in June 2022 and will help to reduce our overall construction programme:

• A reduction in the overall size of the basement
• Conversion of three villas to provide six apartments

Details can be found on the ‘Proposed Planning Amendments’ page and more information about planned site works and timescales will be available soon.

If you would like to be kept up to date about our plan and activity on site, please sign up to our mailing list by emailing info@sjwsservices.com

21.05.21

The COVID-19 emergency has had an impact on our development, as it has with many other sites in Westminster and elsewhere. We have taken the opportunity to review our consented scheme and propose two amendments which are being prepared for submission to the City Council. As of May 2021, a non-material amendment is being submitted to Westminster City Council. The proposed amendments include:

• A reduction in the overall size of the proposed basement by c30%
• The phased construction of residences which had previously been consented as a single phase

There are no significant changes proposed to the above ground design. Minor amendments to the roof plant will allow the scheme to be phased and for some lightwells to become terrace spaces. You can read up on these changes in greater detail on the ‘Planning Application’ page of the website, and download our latest consultation pack on the ‘Consultation Material page’.
To submit feedback or queries, please email info@stjohnswoodsquare.com or call 0203 727 1528.

07.03.17

The St John’s Wood Square Project Construction Liaison Group (CLG) met on 21 February. The primary purpose of the meeting was to brief the CLG on the emerging draft Site Environment Management Plan (SEMP), which was is required to be produced and consulted upon as part of Westminster City Council’s Code of Construction Practice.

The meeting provided an opportunity to re-state the St John’s Wood Square Project’s commitment to being a considerate developer and to reiterate a series of commitments given at the previous CLG meetings. A particular focus for discussion was a pledge to contain noisy works within core working hours and a commitment to ‘Silent Saturdays’.

The St John’s Wood Square project team explained the appointment of a main contractor would play a significant role in shaping the draft SEMP. It was suggested by the CLG that St John’s Wood Square would benefit from adopting best practice from previous development schemes where disruption to the local community had been minimised.

02.12.16

On the 24th and 26th November, Craigewan held a public exhibition on their updated design proposals for St John’s Wood Square Project. The purpose was to share and consult on design amendments which will be submitted to Westminster City Council as part of a S.73 planning application at the end of the year. The exhibition panels laid out the design changes that would further refine and enhance the scheme in line with the vision to create a high quality, family-orientated development, which is in keeping with the St John’s Wood area.

Details of the proposed changes for each of the site’s main zones were explained, along with panels on the site’s history and landscaping, access and parking, sustainability, construction programme and traffic route proposals. The full exhibition panels can be viewed here.

Westminster City Council will also be consulting with residents, businesses and the local community once the application has been submitted and validated.

22.11.16

St John’s Wood Square Construction Liaison Group – Meeting Note, 22 November 2016

The St John’s Wood Square Project Construction Liaison Group (CLG) convened for a meeting on 22 November to discuss the latest designs for the scheme and updates to the construction programme. The meeting began with a summary of the principle design changes to the scheme and the rationale behind them. The CLG were made aware that the changes would be displayed at two public exhibitions taking place on 24th and 26th of November. This meeting focused on the location, size and number of residential units and proposed changes to the external treatment of a number of the residential blocks.

This was followed by a summary overview of works which had been undertaken on the site since the last CLG meeting. These included the conclusion of the archaeological digs by MOLA, the removal of the render from the exterior of the Riding School, the sewer surveys, party wall agreements and other investigative works on site.

As a result of the latest investigative works into the soil composition, the construction approach and timeline is being revised. The basement dig time is being extended due to the need to utilise a different methodology, resulting in an overall demolition and construction period of five and a half years. Craigewan made a commitment to making the protection of neighbourhood assets a key priority.

The group was provided with an update on construction traffic routes with an overview of all proposals that were considered before the preferred option was selected. Craigewan pledged to work closely with residents on any concerns raised. This was one of several construction commitments outlined by Craigewan which would be adopted during the construction phase. It was stated that the proposed Site Environment Management Plan (SEMP) would be drafted to meet the requirements of Westminster City Council’s new Code of Construction Practise and the developer would be signing up to the Considerate Contractors’ Scheme.

16.11.16

16.10.16

16.05.16

17.11.14

16.07.14

02.07.14

14.06.14

22.05.14