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14 March 2024
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
Source: Blackpoint
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Dowen Farmer Architects has been granted planning permission for a multistorey kitchen ‘cube’ in west London
The 12-storey block at Portal Way in North Acton was unanimously approved by the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC)’s planning committee last Thursday (7 March).
The development, for commercial kitchen rental company the Dephna Group, will house more than 250 kitchens in 10 storeys above a community food hall – a ‘world first’ building representing a ‘completely new typology’, according to the architects.
Councillors on the committee, from the three boroughs the OPDC falls within, described the overall vision and ‘innovative’ internal design of the scheme as ‘excellent’. One councillor admitted he had been convinced by its ‘out-of-the-box thinking’ over the course of the meeting. Another councillor added: ‘This could possibly be an award-winning building’.
The approval is subject to a Section 106 agreement requiring £1.4 million worth of client contributions to public realm and public transport improvements, as well as funding for carbon offsetting (£95 per tonne of CO2 generated for 30 years) and for air quality monitoring.
It will now be referred to the Mayor of London’s office for final sign-off.
Explaining the label ‘dark kitchens’ attached to the scheme, a Dephna Group representative told the OPDC committee that, in fact, caterers based on the upper floors would have daylight and ‘generous staff amenity space’ and that the food preparation areas would be linked to the food hall beneath.
They added: ‘These are not dark kitchens, which are simply focused on delivery without any public or retail exposure.’
The cube will replace an existing low-rise commercial kitchen and office block owned by Dephna. The approved scheme replaces an unrealised two-tower mixed-use rental kitchen and 376-home scheme for the same client, drawn up by Scott Brownrigg and approved in 2018.
While the 0.75ha site’s redevelopment for non-residential use means it will not meet the minimum homes target for the site, planning officers said its ‘significant benefits to the local economy’ would outweigh this non-compliance. Councillors agreed the principal of development had been ‘robustly addressed’.
Dowen Farmer described the production kitchens in its 22,700m2 proposals as ‘a very efficiently laid-out machine’ which will provide off-site food preparation for restaurants in central London and for local shops.
They will sit atop a ‘large market hall and vast public space’ on the ground floor, from which food from the kitchens can be ordered via apps and ‘shuttled down to the market space via smart food lifts’.
A key precedent for the building’s layered, perforated screen façade design was Coffey Architects’ Digi-Tech Factory for Norwich City College, the committee heard.
The client expressed hopes that the model would become ‘pioneering by its own merit’.
This new industrial typology enables the reintegration of making space back into the heart of the city, providing employment in suburban locations of outer London. We are excited about an architecture that can start to question this status quo and plug into the renaissance of craft, industry, and making which are slowly returning to cities.
These new kitchen hubs alongside the wider carbon reduction goals develop food destinations. Places that foster a sense of community and footfall are drawn in by having a plethora of food brands where everyone can come together and find something they love. Such a model takes inspiration from Sikh communities, where sharing food is a gathering point around which relationships can be grown and communities can thrive.
The food halls generate a sense of excitement, containing 50 to 100 different food outlets with food ordered via apps and shuttled down to the market space via smart food lifts akin to something from the Ministry of Magic. We anticipate this emerging sector will create ‘microwaves’ across the city in the coming years and are energised to be a part of the positive change.
A ground floor of permeable public realm, street vendors and café space, with 260 kitchens sat at the upper levels. The scheme will provide 1,200 jobs for the local area and create a new building typology looking to reinvent the way urban environments operate from a food development, delivery and production standpoint.
It is unusual to design such a large volume of space that does not require outlook, the resultant form adopting a heavy mass, with a rigorous internal plan set on an efficient grid. This rigour is directly translated to the façade in an honest and simple arrangement, with a two-storey podium addressing the streetscape and adjacent public square.
Key pedestrian routes and desire lines have informed the layout, design and orientation of both the landscaping and ground-floor commercial space at Dephna.
While also connecting Portal Way and Wales Farm Rd, the stepped public realm which wraps the Dephna market hall also creates a space for customers and the public to congregate. The orientation of the neighbouring proposal also creates an opportunity to shape a new ‘urban square’ which connects One Portal Way and Dephna.
Source:Blackpoint
Local authority Ealing Borough Council and OPDC
Type of project Production kitchens
Client Dephna Group
Architect Dowen Farmer Architects
Landscape architect Studio Bosk
Planning consultant Maddox Planning
Structural engineer Engineeria
M&E consultant MWL Group
Fire consultant Ashton Fire
Main contractor TBC
Sustainability consultant MWL Group
Daylight consultant Herrington Consulting
Gross internal floor area 22,700m2
Total cost Undisclosed
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