The Hub
CHRIST CHURCH W4
Our vision is to be a ‘Beating Heart’ of the community by “Welcoming People Home into God’s Love”.
The intention is to expand the facilities of Christ Church W4 Acton Green and to integrate these fully within the community, providing a place for worship and friendship and ensuring everyone feels accepted, and valued.
The Benefits
Remove unsightly prefabricated buildings that can no longer be used.
Provide new spaces that will be used by the church on a Sunday and by the community during the week.
Include a soft play room and informal meeting spaces for young families to enjoy and socialise.
New staff accommodation to help retain church staff and develop broader church Leadership.
The new pavilion building will provide an interesting and high-quality edge to Acton Green Common, increasing safety and security and improving the Conservation Area.
Existing Capacity
The current worshipping hall provides a capacity total of 397m² which equates to a capacity of 264 occupants (1.5m² pp) seated and 794 (0.5m² pp) standing at maximum capacity. These figures do not accommodate for obstructed viewing areas, circulation and the division of age groups based on noise and activity for the Sunday service.
The Sunday service often exceeds 150 total worshippers, with a total of 333 members enrolled. The church has seen an increase in worshippers over the last year with an ambition of expanding over the following years.
The church currently shares 4 toilets split between one primary bathroom and a smaller secondary.
There are no kitchen facilities within the church forcing the church group to hire ovens and cooking facilities for large venue hires such as weddings, funerals & private events.
The church currently struggles to store items required for larger events, forcing them to hire items such as tables, chairs and portable bathrooms at an expense.
Church Growth & Attendance
Overall Sunday includes 3 congregations + a youth congregation Electoral Roll: 333 members 90+ children (ages 0-16) in worship on Sundays with good representation of older teenagers and young adults
Sunday congregation regularly exceeds 170, including children, creating a need for additional spaces.
“We have had to relocate and scatter most of our children and youth meetings at one of our other buildings and to the home of a church family who live locally. This involves round trip walks of circa 15-20 minutes and crossing busy roads twice. This has understandably raised safety concerns amongst some parents and carers within the congregation.
Our strong preference is to be able to provide for our children and youth on a single site, close to their parents to properly meet and evidence our safety and safeguarding obligations.”
Need for Accommodation
“Our ability to recruit, train and develop young Christian leaders is increasingly constrained by the cost of accommodation in West London. We have also considered, and again relied on, some of our congregation to provide accommodation for some of our Worship and Youth leaders.”
Proposed Ground Floor
The ground floor is organised around a centralised ‘Hub’ space, providing a welcoming point of arrival from which all rooms can be accessed. This includes a glazed entrance and canopy at the western end to provide a new entry point to the building.
A separate entrance is provided for the residential accommodation at first-floor level within a secure ‘front garden’.
The proposed ground floor accommodates the church’s primary functions for both weekend and weekday activities, while also providing high-quality community meeting and play spaces. These improvements strengthen the relationship with Acton Green Common by creating greater activity along the site frontage and increasing natural surveillance of the common. This includes a new terrace with outdoor seating at the eastern end of the site.
The Hub centred to the scheme
Soft play located away from sensitive rooms
Retaining as much of the existing church’s envelope as possible
Community spaces applied to address service days and to close off for AA and recovery groups
Increased bathroom capacity
Large kitchen for events
Increased storage provision
Level access throughout the space
Improved landscape
Improved relationship with Acton Green Common
Proposed First Floor
The proposed first floor living accommodation provides seven 19.5m² rooms with a dedicated shared kitchen living room and terrace.
Each room has a en-suite, double bed, storage, desk with seating in a small living area.
The shared kitchen facilities are located at the southern end of the plan accessed from a communal corridor which shares views towards the church and the proposed green roof.
The kitchen and living space share a south facing terrace overlooking the common.
The ancillary accommodations front entrance will occupy the entire western elevation.
The residents will have access to the front door through a separated ‘front garden’ defined by a fence that creates a separation from the wider landscaped area of the church.
The separation between the landscaped area and the ‘front garden’ gives a sense of security for the residents and distinguishes the spaces between each use.
Internal Spaces
The Hub will link the community spaces with the main church. The brickwork and windows of the Victorian church will be visible within this space, and the kitchen at the end will serve tea and coffee.
There will be new flexible spaces at ground floor level which can split into four 50m2 spaces, or be opened up to create a bigger room (above centre).
The living accommodation above will be exclusively for church workers, with each bedroom having an attractive angled ceiling and a window overlooking the common (above right).
The building will be designed to be as sustainable as possible, with an ambition to use a timber structure.
Design Principles
The extension to the church will be a new pavilion fronting Acton Green Common, creating a strong civic presence and a focal point for the surrounding public realm.
Drawing inspiration from the historic “park pavilion” typology found in London’s parks, the design is conceived as a flexible and welcoming community building that supports worship, gathering, learning and public activity.
The pavilion is designed as a contemporary architectural addition that complements the historic character of the Church. It acts as an outward-facing gesture, strengthening the Church’s presence on the common and fostering a greater connection between the Church and the wider neighbourhood.
The design approach for the pavilion is achieved through a set of five key moves summarised as follows.
Removal of the condemned scout hut and associated satellite outbuildings to declutter the site and unlock space for a coherent new extension.
Expanding the pavilion footprint to provide flexible and generous accommodation for Sunday service groups and a range of community activities.
Integrating the new community spaces with the existing church through a centralised shared hub, improving circulation, connectivity and opportunities for informal gathering.
Placing a green roof above the The Hub with skylights to add daylight into the circulation space whilst adding accommodation at the first floor facing towards Acton Green Common.
Introducing a distinctive first-floor roof form that references the neighbouring gabled roof lines along South Parade, tying the pavilion into its surrounding context.
Feedback & Next Steps
We will continue to have discussions with planning and conservation officers, which have so far been very positive.
We aim to submit a planning application to the London Borough of Ealing shortly, and we are keen to ensure that our application takes into account the views of everyone in the local area.
We therefore welcome your comments at this stage. We would be grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete a feedback form today.
It is our intention to keep both local residents, stakeholders and community groups fully consulted throughout the planning process. If you have any questions or if you would like to tell us about any other issues affecting the local area, please contact us in one of the following ways: