‘Bringing back the wonder’: inside the £10bn Earls Court redevelopment seeking planning consent
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Site of the former west London exhibition centre to include nearly 4,000 homes, cultural venues, a park, offices, shops and restaurants. On a damp winter’s day, there are few signs of activity on the huge, empty triangle of land in west London that was once home to the Earls Court exhibition centre with its distinctive art deco facade.
![[Joanna Partridge]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2020/08/24/Joanna_Partridge,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
This has been the case for the near decade since Bombay Bicycle Club played the last ever concert at the venue, which opened in 1937 and once played host to artists such as Pink Floyd and David Bowie, as well as annual events such as the London boat show, when vessels floated in the main hall’s big pool.
![[An aerial view looking south-west of the Earls Court site and the surrounding area]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/92d6e9e34e1c1d4367eb5d5590d9ff7d70437eb7/0_0_3940_2364/master/3940.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
However, plans for a new vision for Earls Court, years in the making, may finally take a step closer to realisation this year, when the firm behind the £10bn redevelopment – Earls Court Development Company (ECDC) – hopes to receive planning permission.
![[Earls Court exhibition centre]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dde679a90ef5c298da4f92b5a27a632e09a8aa4c/0_98_1728_1037/master/1728.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Construction of almost 4,000 new homes – of which 35% would be affordable – as well as three cultural venues, office space, shops and restaurants could begin on central London’s largest empty site – spanning about 18 hectares (44 acres) – in 2026. However, the scale of the project means the build would take place in phases until the early 2040s, with the first residents not expected to move in until 2030.
![[David Bowie performs as Ziggy Stardust at Earls Court exhibition hall in May 1973.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6a255623c184fd27d020432d510e9df3c086cdcb/0_354_4724_2834/master/4724.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“We want to restart Earls Court as a cultural destination and give people a reason to come here,” says Rebekah Paczek, the director of public affairs, social impact and community relations at ECDC. She is standing on what the company calls the “table”, the raised concrete strip that once formed the base of exhibition centre two. It also covers part of the west London line railway that runs across the site, and is earmarked to become a park.
![[Earls Court park]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b22a5d118012494cd48493ee09c959055c1debab/0_124_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
