Site closed

The Ham Close redevelopment project has been firmly closed over the holiday period with large vehicles parked against the gates to deter unwanted visitors.

Concrete slab

My plan not to take too many photographs of the redevelopment of Ham Close hit an early problem and I had to take this picture of the concrete slab at the Woodville Road end of the site.

Work in progress

I am trying not to take too many photographs of the redevelopment of Ham Close, despite my love for all things industrial, as I do not want to post dozens of very similar pictures over the many years of construction but this is the first phase so it deserves a little more attention.

The trench and the piles of earth dug out to create it are the main feature at the moment.

A very long arm

I was seriously impressed by the machine used to pur concrete into the foundations of the new Ham Close development and I had to take the photo at this angle to get all of the arm in the picture. 

Anyone who understand basic physics will know that at that length the arm will have a very large Moment (turning effect) on the several pivots and it takes good engineering to keep the arm straight and in the air.

Briony's Memorial Garden

The limited landscaping at the current Ham Close development is a few raised beds on the lawns, one of which carries a lovely sign announcing that it is Briony's Memorial Garden. The sign is a little old and battered but I hope that there is a place for it in the new Ham Close.

Ham Cafe

Ham Cafe, on Ashburnham Road, is a traditional cafe, the sort of place I look for when in need of an all-day vegetarian breakfast. Once upon a time it was white and yellow and a little tired looking. The move to blue is an improvement and I like the font used in the shop sign.

Second entrance

Having enclosed all of the initial development site for Ham Close some hoardings have been removed from at the east end of Woodville Road to create another entrance.

Preparing the ground

Work on the Ham Close redevelopment is underway and the impact on the site is already dramatic, the first area has been cleared and flattened with one section slightly lower than the rest. The drop is more obvious in the dark!

This view gives a better idea of the scale of the work and the progress made, and it also captures some of the work in progress.

Two tones

The hoardings around the Ham Close redevelopment site have been painted dark blue where facing the roads and light green where facing St Richard's School. Here the two tones collide at a corner on Ashburnham Road.

Blue boards

The enclosure of part of Ham Close in preparation for complete redevelopment is all but complete and the recently installed boards are being painted a fetching dark blue.

Ham Close Road Closed

The barrier around the start of the Ham Close redevelopment that I saw the start of a few days ago has slowly spread to Woodville Road and now blocks one of the roads into the estate.

Preparing for Ham Close redevelopment

The much awaited redevelopment of Ham Close looks as though it is finally about to start with an end section of the estate being fenced off.

Hatch House boarded up

I like surprises so I have not looked at the construction plans for Ham Close and I do not know the sequence of demolitions but it looks as though Hatch House will be the first to go. This is hardly surprising as it is in a corner of the site.

Parking area closed

One of the ugly parking areas in Ham Close, this one is in the north-west corner alongside Woodville Road, has been closed off with two bright yellow pillars. It is several years away but Ham Close will look a lot better without areas like this.

New homes for all Londoners

The first sign of the many years of construction work to come at Ham Close is this vivacious sign tucked away on the west edge of the site.

Clarke House

I have been fairly derogatory of the landscpaing of Ham Close, and rightly too, so it is nice to be able to redress that balance a little and show one part of the estate that looks good. 

This is the back of Clarke House, just off Woodville Road, and the setting looks rather lovely. The trees and the flowers in the grass are a large part of this and the building also looks good with the sunlight falling on it.

Welcome to Ham Close

When Ham Close (in its current form) goes so will these signs, there is one on each of the four entrances, so I wanted a picture of one for the record.

The sign is useful in showing how poorly the site if used with the large grey areas given over to cars and the green areas being mostly lawn. There are a few trees but these are mostly around the edges.

Ham Close needs redevelopment

Whatever the merits of the individual blocks in Ham Close, the area needs to be redeveloped because it is very poor use of the space. In the picture above a vast amount of space has been wasted on a large car park and the landscaped areas are just grass.

Ham is noted for the landscaping in Wates Estate and Parkleys but Ham Close lets the area down by doing almost nothing with the spaces between the buildings.

At least there are a few trees in this picture (I have absolutely no idea why there are not lots more) but the scene is still dominated by another underused car park, a wide road and a flat lawn.

The new Ham Close development promises to be an awful lot better than this and will be a real boost to the area.

Ham Close (still)

I have posted a few similar pictures of Ham Close over the years, starting in 2014(!), with the comment that I wanted to capture the development before it is demolished and, somehow, it is still there. The most recent proposals have got planning permission so, hopefully, changes will start soon.

Pictures like this show why change is needed; the buildings are distinctly boring, verging on ugly even, and there are large spaces between them that do not do anything useful or pretty.

Pointless pavement repairs

Richmond Council has found some strange places to repair pavement but Ham Close is the one that confuses me the most.

Normally I would just comment on the lack of footfall, which is certainly true here, to suggest that the repairs were a low priority or even unnecessary but here there is the more obvious, and rather significant, reason - the whole Ham Close estate is due to be demolished and rebuilt. 

These pavements will be gone in a few years but they will look nice until then.