Showing posts with label Brent Civic Centre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brent Civic Centre. Show all posts

Monday 20 November 2023

Ceasefire gathering at Brent Civic Centre this evening from 5pm


 From Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Supporters of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza will gather in front of Brent Civic Centre this evening between 5pm and 6pm to give local people a chance to come together to demonstrate what an urgent and important issue this is for Brent’s diverse citizens.

 

Brent councillors arriving at the Civic Centre for the 6pm Council meeting will be invited to join the gathering in solidarity with their community.

 

The gathering will be followed by a candlelit vigil nearby to remember the Israeli and Palestinian children who have been killed in the current conflict. Their names and ages will be read out so that they are remembered as real human beings, robbed of their future - not just another number added to the mounting casualty list. The naming will be interspersed with poetry readings and will finish with a minute’s reflection.


Thursday 15 June 2023

Solidarity Rally with St Mungo's workers at Brent Civic Centre at noon, tomorrow

 

There will be a Rally to support the workers at the St Mungo's homelessness charity on Friday June 16th outside Brent Civic Centre at noon.

The main speakers at the Rally, organised by Brent Trades Council, will be local MPs Dawn Butler and Barry Gardiner.

Take along your union banners and placards so that that we make a big declaration of solidarity with workers struggling for a decent wage when executives earn tens of thousands.

 Nearest tube Wembley Park but also accessible from Wembley Central station and multiple bus routes.

 The rally will be preceeded by a short picket outside St Mungo's facility in Pound Lane, Willesden, opposite the bus garage at 9am.


Thursday 1 June 2023

Henry Cooper of Wembley – free talk on Saturday 17th June 10.30am at Brent Civic Centre

Guest post by local historian Philip Grant



Back in November 2018, I wrote a short post about a blue plaque which had been unveiled in Ealing Road, to commemorate Sir Henry Cooper. The greengrocers business that he ran there, for three years in the 1960s, was called “Henry Cooper of Wembley”, and that is the name of a free illustrated talk which I will be giving at Brent Civic Centre on the morning of Saturday 17 June. I’m writing this article, so that as many local people as possible, who might wish to come along to my talk, are aware of it.

 

 

The talk has been arranged for that weekend, and that venue, because it will be the 60th anniversary of Henry Cooper’s famous boxing match at Wembley Stadium (a final eliminator, with the winner fighting for the Heavyweight Championship of the World) against Cassius Clay, aka Muhammad Ali.

 


 

The talk is not just about boxing, but also about Henry Cooper the man, who lived in Wembley with his family for fifteen years, at the height of his career. Although it is advertised as being at the Civic Centre's Wembley Library, the talk will actually take place in Boardrooms 4&5  as students will be revising for exams in the library itself. Because of this, if you are coming to the talk, please arrive between 10.15 and 10.25am, at the library entrance in the main Civic Centre atrium, so that a member of staff can take you up to the third floor in the lift.

 

Although this is a free talk, you need to book online, at the Brent Culture Service Eventbrite website, to reserve your place. To see more details, and to do that, please click HERE. I look forward to sharing Henry’s story with you, in words and pictures!

 


Philip Grant

 

 

Tuesday 23 May 2023

Brent Tories to protest at Civic Centre tomorrow (Wednesday) against clean air measures

 

The anti-ULEZ protest that was to take place at the Brent Council AGM but was knocked on the head by Conservative councillors is now taking place tomorrow, Wednesday 24th May 5-7pm.

The only event taking place tomorrow in the Civic Centre, apart from the library, is a 6pm training session for members of the Planning Committee.  This will mean that Cllr Michael Maurice will be missing for the second half of the 2 hour protest. 

Some of the protesters may be late as they are likely to having difficulty in finding a place to park their cars.

I do not have any firm news of a counter-demonstration by clean air campaigners yet.

Thursday 6 April 2023

Brent Council to let several floors of the Civic Centre to commercial clients


 Cash-strapped Brent Council is advertising some 19,309 square feet of space at the Brent Civic Centre at £32.50 a square foot to realise a planned income of £680k in 2024-25. If the Council  fail to let the space it will mean further cuts.

At the same time the Council is reviewing existing commercial contracts.  Earlier this year Cabinet approved a £2m remodelling claiming it would improve 'customer experience' and also make the building more attractive to commercial tenants.

The planned lets include the first floor restaurant space that closed during the pandemic and has since been used by voluntary organisations as a commnity kitchen.

The space has been freed up via a 'restack' operation that moves existing staff around to maximise space for letting out.

As well as seeking commercial companies the Council is also looking at letting to a 'flex-operator', an organisation that lets flexible space to start ups and other small companies. LINK

Delegated authority is being sought to enter into new leases with the following:

· A new lease at an agreed market rent with the Valuation Office Agency
(VOA to relocate from the 8th Floor North to the 8th Floor West that was
recently vacated by Air France.

· A new lease at an agreed market rent with the Old Oak and Park Royal
Development Corporation for their current demise on the 1st Floor West - or
a suitable alternative space.

· A new lease at an agreed market rent with the NHS to co-locate them with
Brent’s Adult Social Care and Health department on the 2nd Floor.

· A new lease at an agreed market rent with Warren Bakery who occupy a
retail unit on the ground floor.

· Any other existing tenants as appropriate in line with the re-stack project
and any new prospective tenants seeking space within the Civic Centre

I am not sure about the status of Starbucks which is not mentioned in the Cabinet Report.

This is the brochure already available to potential clients:

Monday 13 February 2023

Brent Lib Dems: 'Impossible to justify £1.96m spend' on Brent Civic Centre that 'could bring Council into disrepute'


 'Reach for the book' - the 'concept' plan to replace the spiral straircase

 

The Liberal Democrat Group on Brent Council have expressed doubts about the Council’s decision to spend £2m on the £100m 10 years old Brent Civic Centre.

 

They said:

 

The Cabinet decision to spend an excessive sum of £1.96 million on upgrades to Brent Civic Centre, at a time when services provided by the local authority continue to be reduced, is wrong and unjustified.

 

As a service-based organisation, Brent Council should always be putting the needs of residents first and we do not believe that committing this large amount of money on ‘Improving the Customer Experience’ at the Civic Centre is a priority for our residents. Most residents are concerned about crumbling and dangerous local roads and pavements, increased rubbish being dumped in our area, and most significantly the huge financial pressures faced due to the Cost-of-Living crisis, compounded by upcoming additional pressures like the increase in Council Tax and other charges.

 

It is difficult to justify spending £1.96 on the Civic Centre building, when there are so many other areas the Council should be prioritising at this time. 

 

The Report makes no mention of the number of visitors to the Civic Centre, what the numbers the current arrangements can cope with and what the numbers the redesign will be able to accommodate, after spending £1.96 million. Why?

 

The Report also makes claims about savings without specifying what these savings will be.

 

Brent Civic Centre is barely 10 years old. We find it incredible that the Cabinet have been able to identify such a large amount of money for a redesign, whilst simultaneously claiming shortfalls in the budget exist, which impact the delivery of services and upkeep of our wards.

 

It is accepted by many that, particularly post pandemic, the Civic Centre is not being used to full capacity. Much of the vast space available for use is not being utilised as intended, as many Council Officers are able to do their work remotely and from home. Whilst the Report refers mostly to the customer areas of the Civic Centre, we believe that a discussion now needs to also begin about the continued use of the Civic Centre as a whole, given the costs involved for its upkeep, and the potential for considerable revenue to be generated if it is used in different ways.

 

The Report focuses on the face-to-face public spaces in the Civic Centre as being in need of a redesign. We do not believe that enough effort has been made to adapt, at much lesser cost, the existing spaces for ‘customers’ who come to the building seeking support.

 

We believe that further work needs to take place to understand alternative, less costly action to ensure a better ‘Customer Experience’ at Brent Civic Centre. We acknowledge that some consultation has been done that has led to the decision to produce this Report, however we are sceptical that enough people’s views were taken into account and that a wide range of views were considered in preparation for this Report.

 

As Councillors often in the Civic Centre, we recognise the waste of space in the mezzanine area. This space should be used more efficiently, as noted in the Report, however, we see no need for expansive works to improve it.

 

The Report refers to the need to create private more secluded areas for ‘customers’ (residents) to have meetings and discussions with Council Officers. There is a great deal of empty space on the ground floor and the first floor that could quite easily be turned into private spaces, as is required.

 

There is also an opportunity to create a secondary reception area on the left side of the ground floor, where currently ‘Registrations’ take place. We see no problem in dual purpose use of that side of the ground floor.

 

As to the issues with heating in the building, the current plan seems extravagant and unnecessary. We want to see officers explore alternative options to regulate the heat in the Civic Centre, possibly by installation of additional artificial walls.

 

Our view is that better use can be made of existing Hub centres across the borough, in order to provide a service to our residents out in the community. The money agreed by Cabinet to spend on redesign of the Civic Centre, can be better used to improve existing services that are more likely to directly assist residents with their needs.

 

Fundamentally, we believe it is impossible to justify the £1.96 million spend as agreed by Cabinet. It is the wrong time, the wrong look and could bring this Council into disrepute if this goes ahead.

 

Our residents want to see their Council focus on the issues that matter to them and for the vast majority that will never step foot in the Civic Centre, this decision will have no positive impact.

 

 

Saturday 11 February 2023

Brent Civic Centre - a modern rival to Watkin's Folly?

 

 

Brent Cabinet last week approved a major reconfiguration of part of Brent Civic Centre under the low key title 'Improving Customer Experience at Brent Civic Centre'.   In fact these are major works costing £2m to the 'state of the art'  building which is just 10 years old.  The Cabinet report recognised problems that have been there since the building opened.  At the planning stage Brent Green Party were the only local political party that opposed the grandiose project as expensive (c£100m) and a vanity project when councils were facing funding cuts. By 2011 Labour had reviewed their support and decided to go ahead, Liberal Democrats wanted the library reduced in size as other libraries were being closed and Tories wrote to the local press, 'We don't need a new sparkling civic centre at the detriment of people's jobs and front-line services'. LINK

The initial aim was to centralise the many Brent Council buildings in Wembley. There was even a proposal from the then Brent CEO to rename the borough the London Borough of Wembley. Soon it became apparent that not everyone in the boroughwas prepared to go to Wembley for services and 'hubs' were set up in other areas. The complaint that the Council is 'Wembley-centric' is still common.

Well we got a 'sparkling civic centre' that one critic described as a building fit to house the parliament of a small European state , with an imposing atrium and staircase (not actually used as a staircase) occupying a huge amount of space. The steps were handy for wedding photographs, post-election photo ops and demonstrations. It was a huge area of empty space with office space for concil workers on one side and large and small IKEA style meeting rooms for councillors on the other.

Strathcona closure demonstration

As with any new building there were teething problems but some of those were a product of the sesign itself. The building was cold in winter and hot in summer despite the green credentials, acoustics were so bad in meeting rooms that microphones had to be used even for fairly small rooms, and people had wave their arms in the air to operate the movement activated lighting.  One of the worse issues early on was the telephony system which failed to the extent that staff hads to operate mobile phones on not very good lines. When you rang you could hear other staff bellowing down their phones in the background in an effort to be heard.

Cuts in funding led to a reduction in staff with some floors emptied and attempts were made to let them out to commercial organisations to raise funds.  The Melting Pot restaurant featuring in the public relations video closed.

Wembley Matters early on drew attention to the inflation of library visitor figures because staff chose to walk in and out of the Centre via the library entrance which was convenient to Olympic Way and the station.

That entrance, next to Sainsbury's will now be the new main entrance for residents, rather than the one opposite the Arena which opens on to the atrium and its staircase.

Extract from the report:

New entrance: With the improved layout, residents will enter the building through a new main entrance on Exhibition Way by Sainsbury’s. This follows feedback from residents that the current entrance is overwhelming, unwelcoming, intimidating and very cold in the winter months. Instead, residents will now enter into a dedicated space where they can immediately be triaged and directed to the service that they need. Customers will now have a clear journey through the building.

Temperature: The new layout will resolve current issues with the temperature of the atrium. The atrium’s temperature is similar to outside which means that, during the winter, conditions are extremely uncomfortable for customers and staff. A Health and Safety concern has been raised for staff who spend hours meeting customers in this space. It also creates an unwelcoming and hostile environment for residents visiting the building. The improved layout will see residents enter through a new ground floor entrance, into a vestibule, that will help to maintain heat in the building. This layout will help to ensure that the Civic Centre provides a warm space for residents, which is increasingly critical given the current economic and energy crisis.

Welcome Desk: Currently, residents seeking support and business visitors to the Civic Centre queue together at the Welcome Desk. This contributes to delays and confusion for both customers and visitors. Potential businesses looking to hire floors in the Civic Centre have expressed concerns about the current setup as visitors, including those arriving for interviews, meetings and conferences, are often delayed at the Welcome Desk. The new layout will mean that the smaller Welcome Desk is dedicated to business visitors. This will ensure that the Civic Centre represents a more appealing location for businesses and/or organisations wanting to rent office space. This pressure on the Welcome Desk to triage visitors will only increase with the restacking of the building. Without these changes, there is a risk that the forecasted additional income of almost £750,000 per annum, generated by renting out further floors, could be jeopardised.  (Not quite 'poor doors' but resident and business separation.)

The changes will cost £1.96m which will be borowed over the course of 10 years at £242k per annum with a potential National Lottery Heritage Fund for enhancement of the library. Rather ominously the report notes that the scheme will be partly funded through savings to be identified 'primarily' in Customer Services; Libraries, Arts and Heritage, and Revenue and Development. I am not sure the Lottery will buy that.


Customer Services Area 'Concept' (Willmott Dixon Interiors)

There can be no doubt that the atrium  space is rather overwhelming for visitors to the centre, especially if you are a homeless family with small children dragging your suitcases to find help. The contrast to the surroundings serves to intimidate and make you feel small and insignicant.

I am struggling to work out what is going to happen to the atrium. The presentation below gives few clues.

Overall the proposals raise questions about the original 'grand design' and its suitability, rather similar to those that the GLA experienced at the 'glass testicle' (now abandoned) - a building where architects neglected effective function. LINK

Watkin's Folly was the ill-fated attempt to build a tower at Wembley Park to rival the Eiffel Tower. If history deems Brent Civic Centre a 'folly', I wonder who it will be named after?


Monday 13 June 2022

Person in police custody after hammer attack on ground floor windows of Brent Civic Centre. No injuries reported. Glass declared safe pending repair.


 

Front window panes of Brent Civic Centre were damaged on Friday morning after being hit with a hammer.

A Brent Council spokesperson told Wembley Matters:

An individual was taken into Police custody on Friday morning after breaking the front window panes of Brent Civic Centre with a hammer. We can confirm no one was hurt, however any further detail would be a matter for the Police.

We are working to book in repairs to the front of the Civic Centre and expect to be able to claim costs back through our insurer. The glass has been surveyed and is safe to remain in the meantime.



Sunday 4 April 2021

UPDATE Brent Council's 'Vanity' road - it's enough to make you crack up

 UPDATE: A Brent Council source has said that the stripping below is for the installation of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation measures and not due to the state of the road. There is no word on whether the reinstated surface will be block paving or tarmac.

When Brent Council's £100m Civic Centre was built it was decided that a building of such distinction required an equally distinctive road surface so £852,000 was spent on block paving. Given that it was a route for heavy construction lorries it soon deteriorated although Brent Council also blamed severe weather.


Further money has been spent on ongoing repairs but observers have now seen that a section of Engineers Way outside the Civic Centre  has been stripped:

 



Engineers Way yesterday

 Former Brent Liberal Democrat leader Paul Lorber, has written to the Council to ask if the road is going to replaced  by asphalt as in other parts of the borough and why similar remedial action cannot be taken at Station Approach in Sudbury.

It looked yesterday from the stack of blocks visible on the site as if the block paving is going to be replaced. I think we need to know the additional costs involved.

Meanwhile with Engineers Way closed while work continues on the controversial , Fulton Road is the main access road to the stadium area. Residents of the new build have been complaining about the traffic jams caused by huge trucks accessing building sites with considerable difficulty and the damage caused when they have to mount the pavements.

 




At the other end of Olympic Way work is continuing on the linking of North End Road to Bridge Road with considerable incovenience to pedestrians. An initial justification given for the link was that  buses could use North End Road as a detour on event days and maintain a better bus service to residents. The 206 to the Paddocks was curtailed on event days. It now appears that there may have to be a weight limit on the new link which might affect these plans.

 

Tuesday 3 November 2020

Brent Council hails 63.7% cut in its carbon emissions

 From Brent Council

Energy-saving streetlights and the new Civic Centre have helped Brent Council to cut its carbon emissions by 63.7% as the figures for the latest year* are released.

Reductions are measured against the baseline from 2010-11. The government’s target asks organisations to aim for a 30% emissions reduction. In 2018 the Council set itself a more robust goal of 60% by 2021 and last year committed to do all reasonable in its gift to aim for carbon neutrality by 2030.

The substantial drop in emissions has been driven by the installation of 21,000 LED street lights, as well as the move to the new Brent Civic Centre, which was named the greenest public sector building in 2014.  

Cllr Krupa Sheth, Lead Member for Environment, said: 

Last year, we declared a climate and ecological emergency. Today’s news confirms our dedication and I’m delighted we’ve been able to exceed the target we set ourselves two years ago. But we also know there is more work to do. We are committed to reducing our energy usage as much as possible and it is our ambition to buy what we do need through a truly green energy provider.

 

*April 2019 - March 2020

Monday 17 August 2020

Demonstration Tuesday Brent Civic Centre Noon: No more 'Track & Trace' cash for SERCO - give it to Brent Public Health instead

From We Own It and Brent Trades Council

Matt Hancock needs to scrap Serco and Sitel’s failed contracts now instead of renewing them on August 23rd.


The government must give the £528 million allocated for these contract extension to local authorities and Public Health England teams instead. Privatised track and trace has been a disaster that is costing lives.

It’s time to put local public health teams in charge of the whole system. They have the tools and the local knowledge they need to do this vital work before any second wave this winter. Now they need the money.
 
Join us tomorrow, Tuesday 18th August 12 noon, outside Brent Civic Centre for a demonstration in support of a local Test and Trace system, run by the Brent Council Public Health department. Social distancing and please wear a mask.

Saturday 20 June 2020

The Wembley Park Story – Part 6

Welcome to the 6th and final part of Philip Grant's Story of Wembley Park


Welcome back to this final part of Wembley Park’s story. In Part 5 (“click” if you missed it) we reached the point where Wembley had won the bid to be the home of England’s new football stadium. In 1999, the Football Association bought the old stadium for £103million, through a new company, Wembley National Stadium Ltd. 

Even though the plans for the new stadium were still vague, an Australian company, Multiplex, agreed to build it for £326.5m, just before the old stadium’s final match (an England v. Germany international) in October 2000. Many people had thought that Wembley’s iconic “twin towers”, which were Grade II listed buildings, would be retained. However, Brent Council agreed to the whole stadium being demolished, although work did not begin on that until 2002.

1. Wembley's "twin towers", about to be demolished in January 2003. (Photograph by Pete Tomsett)

Although the old Wembley Stadium estate included over 100 acres of land and buildings, the F.A. had decided that they were ‘not in the business of regeneration’. By 2002, around 85 acres, including Wembley Arena (in 1978, the former Empire Pool was officially renamed), had been sold to the developers, Quintain Estates. They began drawing up a masterplan for the regeneration of Wembley Park, in consultation with Brent Council.

Early in 2003, the world watched as the towers of the old stadium were demolished. Rubble from them was used for part of the foundations of the new Wembley. What I didn’t know, until a few years ago, was that a concrete flagpole base, from the top of one of the “twin towers”, was saved as a memory of the old Wembley. If your “lockdown” exercise walk takes you to Brent River Park, you can see it by the footpath on the east side of the river, near Pitfield Way.

2. The “twin towers” flagpole base, at Brent River Park.



The demolition of the old stadium


While work was underway to build a new stadium on the site of the old, Quintain were also beginning their efforts. The Arena was still a thriving venue for over 150 shows a year, but it too was getting old. By 2005, a £20million upgrade was in progress, and you can see this in the photograph below. The 1934 building is having a facelift, with its entrance being moved to the eastern end, from a new Arena Square, while in the foreground is the roof of the former Palace of Industry. You can also see the round Conference Centre, the triangular office building Elvin House, and the exhibition halls and multi-storey car park of the 1970s Wembley Complex.


3. Aerial view of Wembley Arena and surrounding buildings in 2005. (Image from the internet)

The Arch, which was to be the distinctive feature of the new Wembley Stadium, was raised into place in 2004. However, there were problems and delays with the construction project, and it was not until March 2007 that stadium was ready, at a final cost of £757m. A new “White Horse Bridge” provided improved pedestrian access from the High Road, and Wembley Central and Stadium stations. Local residents got the chance to look at the new stadium, before the start of what it was hoped will be a legendary history to match that of the “twin towers”.


4. Brent residents crossing the White Horse Bridge, after a March 2007 Community Day at the Stadium.
(Photograph by Malcolm Barrès-Baker. Brent Archives online image 7057)
5. Forum House, in 2009, with construction on the former Conference Centre site underway beside it.

The refurbished, 12,500 seat Wembley Arena had reopened in April 2006, hosting the London leg of Depeche Mode’s “Touring the Angel” tour. Other construction work, for what Quintain originally called Wembley City, was going on nearby. Forum House, between the Arena and Empire Way, was their first residential block to be finished. By 2007, the Conference Centre next door, and other 1970s buildings, were being demolished to make way for larger schemes.


6. Wembley Conference Centre being demolished in 2007. (By M. Barrès-Baker. Brent Archives image 7070)

Among the projects completed over the next few years were the 4-star Hilton Hotel, across Lakeside Way from the Arena, the Quadrant Court flats and several blocks of student accommodation. With more people living in the area, a gym and small branches of Tesco and the Co-op on the ground floors of several new buildings helped to provide amenities. However, the most striking student block in Wembley Park, Victoria Hall (or “the helter-skelter”), which opened in North End Road in 2011, was not one of Quintain’s buildings.

7. The Victoria Hall student accommodation building, as seen from the stadium in January 2012.

The Olympic Games returned to Wembley in 2012. Although the main venues were at the Olympic Park, in East London’s Stratford district, both the stadium and the arena hosted sports events. For the 90,0000-seater stadium it was, of course, football matches, with three group games involving Great Britain’s men’s and women’s teams, two semi-finals and both finals. Wembley Arena hosted both the badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competitions. These required extra facilities, which were housed in temporary buildings on the former Palace of Arts site, with a special footbridge built over Engineers Way to link them to the arena.

While new buildings were going up, one of Wembley Park’s oldest buildings was almost destroyed by a fire in 2013. The Lodge to Richard Page’s estate (at least a century old when it was pictured at the start of Part 3) had already seemed accident-prone after it was hit by a runaway bus in 1973. Sadly, this Grade II listed cottage, at the corner of Wembley Park Drive, is still in a terrible state, with its repair hampered by the alleged arson that started the fire.


8. Wembley Park Lodge, with the bus accident in 1973 (Brent Archives image 9091), and in 2017.

2013 was also a milestone year for the regeneration of Wembley Park. Quintain’s London Designer Outlet (“LDO”) opened in October. This large development of shops, eating places and a multi-screen cinema was a visitor attraction, and a facility for local people. Under an agreement with the Council, Quintain were allowed to cover the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals with large vinyl sheets advertising the LDO. That autumn also saw Brent Council move its 2,000 staff from the Town Hall in Forty Lane, and other buildings, into a brand-new Civic Centre.

9. Brent Civic Centre, from Arena Square, July 2014.

Brent’s new civic home had been built on part of the former Palace of Industry site, and the last section of this final relic of the 1924 exhibition had been knocked down in 2013. One of the first events put on by Brent Museum in the Civic Centre was a display marking the 90th anniversary of the British Empire Exhibition. Quintain had saved some of the concrete decorative lion heads when the “Palace” was demolished. Wembley History Society, and the Exhibition Study Group, worked with Quintain and Brent Council to put a “Wembley Lion” on permanent public display. It was unveiled in July 2014, on the green space in Wembley Hill Road, near the LDO.

10. The Wembley Lion (selfie opportunity!), with BEE information panel, in Wembley Hill Road, July 2014.

The use of the site opposite the arena for the 2012 Olympics had delayed its redevelopment by Quintain. Their large development of “Tipi” branded rental apartments, finally came on stream in 2016. The brick-faced blocks were around a private green space, and were known as Emerald Gardens. A road behind them was intended to commemorate the Palace of Arts, which had previously been on that site, before being demolished in the early 2000s.
Although Quintain still had plenty of land at Wembley Park to develop, they acquired some more in early 2016, when they bought Fountain Studios. From 1993, Fountain had been using the former Studio 5 building, and hosted the production of many famous TV shows. They had to close by the end of the year, with their last ever broadcast the live semi-final of that year’s “X-Factor”. Plans have since been put forward to redevelop the area as the Fulton Quarter, but the building reopened as Troubadour’s temporary Wembley Park Theatre in October 2019.

11. An aerial view across Wembley Park in 2017. (Courtesy of Julian Tollast / Quintain Plc)

At first sight, Wembley Park seems to be drowning under a sea of tall buildings in recent years, but there are some mitigating factors in its planning. Just as at the 1924 exhibition, there are green spaces between the concrete buildings, such as Elvin Gardens, behind the Civic Centre. A seven-acre park will soon be open, including a water feature. A community centre, The Yellow, has been provided, in a road remembering Wembley Park’s heritage. The long-promised primary school has yet to be built, however, and I am one of those who believe its proposed site, on York House’s car park, beside a main road with poor air quality, is a mistake.

12. The Yellow community centre, in Humphry Repton Lane, Wembley Park.

A major upgrade of Olympic Way was announced in 2017, with Brent Council agreeing to give Quintain a £17m contribution to its cost out of Community Infrastructure Levy payments. In April 2018, Wembley History Society asked both parties to put the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals back on permanent public display, as part of those improvements. Among the features that have appeared beside the main route to the stadium, along with new trees, is the BoxPark food hall and entertainment venue.

13. Olympic Way improvements in progress, January 2019, with the new BoxPark and blocks of flats.

Despite strong opposition from local historians and residents, Brent’s Planning Committee agreed in July 2019 to allow the tile murals in subway to be covered with LED panels that can be used for advertising. Quintain had agreed to put one of the mural scenes, showing England footballers at the old “twin towers” stadium, on display as part of their public realm upgrade. In January 2020, three more scenes were put back on display for a few weeks, at the start of Brent’s London Borough of Culture year. Wembley Park’s sports and entertainment heritage covers more than just football, and I hope that its story will, in time, be properly celebrated!
14. The Bobby Moore Bridge subway in November 2019, with lights, and one tile mural scene on show.

Thank you for reading Wembley Park’s story; I hope you’ve enjoyed learning some interesting things about it. This series has ended, but there will be more local history next weekend!

Philip Grant.

Thank you very much Philip for all your work on this really interesting series of article.

Martin Francis