With a mission to bring the wonder back to Earls Court, this programme aims to act as a home for creative talent. ​​Earls Court Community Hub, Artist in Residence and gardens helped create £524,000 of social impact in 2023. The BBC Earth Experience and The Lost Estate immersive theatre and dining experience have also attracted visitors to the area.

Who is on the project team? (designer, consultants, etc)

Hawkins\Brown and Studio Egret West are the principal masterplan architects for the Earls Court masterplan. SLA is the landscape architect across the whole development site. For the first phase of the development, ECDC has appointed: • Sheppard Robson with Serie Architects and dRMM, will deliver the first phase within Hammersmith & Fulham, creating a strong relationship with the neighbouring West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates and the Empress State building. • ACME will be responsible for a signature office building at the key entrance to the site on Warwick Road in Kensington & Chelsea. It will re-create a sense of arrival from Earl’s Court Station. • Haworth Tompkins and Maccreanor Lavington will collaborate to bring forward the first homes within Kensington & Chelsea, with a significant cultural offer, located in the heart of the site.

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

The site is the largest cleared development opportunity in Zone 1. ECDC has a vision ‘to bring the wonder back to Earls Court’ with a masterplan which opens up the site, celebrates the legacy of world-class ingenuity, creates a better piece of city, and responds to the climate emergency. With a commitment to working with communities and stakeholders from day one, ECDC is ensuring their activity supports the generation of social and economic impact across the local community throughout the lifetime of the project. The impact of the closure of the Exhibition Centres on the local economy was drastic, with approximately £2bn per year lost in contributions to the UK economy. The site is bordered to the west by the West Kensington & Gibbs Green Estates, in Hammersmith and Fulham and to the east, in Kensington and Chelsea, by the Georgian terraces of the Philbeach Gardens conservation area. The largest public green space is Brompton Cemetery, apart from the cemetery, green space is currently confined to private back gardens and gated garden squares.

Please share any data or figures that support your entry, for example increased footfall, happiness surveys, event attendance and/or observed changes in behaviour.

ECDC’s activations on site have resulted in hundreds of thousands of people visiting the local area, which has boosted the local economy and allowed neighbouring businesses to thrive. The Lillie Road shops have positively impacted the quality of nearby neighbourhoods, enhanced the income and wealth, and contributed to the education and skill development of our stakeholders according to ECDC’s social value report. Our activities over 2023 helped support £25.7 million of local expenditure. This is the amount of additional money spent in the local area because of our activity, through a combination of ECDC funding and purchases, the re-spending of employees’ wages in the local economy, the expenditure by visitors to the BBC Earth Experience, the Lost Estate and other events, or the value of the sales by businesses and artists. Some of the largest providers of additional spend in the local economy were BBC Earth Experience, The Lost Estate theatre venue & our curated businesses.

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? If if it was a temporary intervention, is there a legacy plan? What happened to its tenants, users, materials and programming?

Our latest Social Value Report from November 2022 – November 2023 highlights the extensive positive social and economic impact that ECDC has had, ascribing a monetary value to the economic, social and environmental influences of development. The community investment programme saw over £7.9 million of social value. ECDC’s activities have supported net additional expenditure of £25.7 million and delivered £12.9m of additional GVA for the local economy and 599 full time equivalent jobs created in the 12-month period. The BBC Earth Experience, our ground-breaking immersive attraction exhibiting the diversity of the seven continents, was amongst the biggest drivers of social value in Earls Court this year, creating social value of £1,731,000 and over 300 full time jobs. Our work with Hammersmith Community Gardens Association has brought community gardening to the site, getting local people involved with initiatives to bring nature into everyday life and improve the natural environment. This is part of a longer-term plan to activate the site as a place for nature to flourish, as a meanwhile use and within the masterplan.