Click through the images above to see our submitted proposals for Baltic Wharf
Baltic Wharf redevelopment - Application submitted
Unite Students and Travis Perkins have now submitted a planning application to Westminster City Council (WCC) for the redevelopment of the key Baltic Wharf site in Paddington.
The application has been validated and given the reference number 24/03600/FULL.
The submitted scheme, which re-provides the Travis Perkins store at ground level, with student accommodation – for students studying at Westminster-based Kings College London – on the upper levels, has been carefully refined over the past months, as we have engaged widely with the local community and other stakeholders.
Our proposals are based on two carefully designed, distinct and separate buildings over a podium level. As well as student bedrooms, our sustainable proposals include significant student study and amenity spaces. Landscaped, fully managed roof terraces and balconies will be provided at various levels.
There will also be a new canal side path, providing a continuous link along the north bank of the canal, between Maida Vale and Paddington, for the first time. To celebrate the site’s industrial heritage, we have retained the last remaining original brick gable wall of the canal-focused warehouse buildings. The plans include a permanent community space and we have submitted detailed community benefit and heritage strategies, as part of our application. If the plans receive planning permission we are committed to continue to engage with the community in the long term, through construction and into operation.
The successful redevelopment of the Baltic Wharf site – the last remaining site within the Paddington Opportunity Area – presents a number of challenges. With these proposals, we believe that we have been able to address these challenges, respect the local community and deliver a scheme that makes a genuine and positive contribution to North Paddington.
Our application will now be considered by WCC who will run its own consultation process over the coming weeks, before determining the application later in the year.
Background of the scheme
Travis Perkins has owned and operated a builders merchants on the Baltic Wharf site for over 50 years. This builders merchants is very successful, but the facilities that it is operating from are no longer fit for purpose and Travis Perkins has spent a number of years considering redevelopment options – which maximise the potential represented by this prominent site, located within the Paddington Opportunity Area, and ensure a continued and improved builders merchants at Baltic Wharf.
In 2019, Travis Perkins actively marketed the site as a joint venture development opportunity. Over 25 potential development partners submitted proposals, including residential and commercial developers, hotel developers and others. Following an extensive review, Travis Perkins identified that the only viable option for mixed use development on the site, retaining and improving the builders merchants at ground level, was to partner with Unite Students to provide student accommodation and associated facilities on the upper floors.
The initial proposals promoted by Travis Perkins and Unite Students proposed 854 student bedrooms above the builders merchants. These were refused by Westminster City Council in 2022 and since then the project team have been focused on developing new proposals which address the reasons for refusal, including daylight/sunlight impact on neighbouring buildings and the servicing strategy.
Following extensive public engagement we shared our emerging proposals in February 2024. They are based on around 600 student bedrooms – a c.30% reduction split over two blocks with a gap in the middle. This is the minimum number of bedrooms that can be viably delivered, while still allowing the scheme to provide a new builders merchants and extensive on and off-site public benefits.
The majority of the student bedrooms would be occupied under an agreement with Westminster-based King’s College London.
