CapCo plans mega-scheme at Earl’s Court

  Ambitious plans to transform 70 acres around London’s Earls Court into a 15m-20m sq ft development are being drawn up by Capital & Counties.                               The £2.2bn Liberty International subsidiary this week showed landowners its “vision statement” for the area.   The huge mixed-use scheme will encompass land owned by Hammersmith & Fulham council and Transport for London, as well as the Earls Court and Olympia exhibition halls.   CapCo bought a 50% stake in £400m exhibition and concert venue company EC&O last July. The remaining 50% is held by Anthony Lyons and David Coffer.   CapCo envisages the construction of offices along Cromwell Road, SW5, to shield thousands of new homes, and a modest retail centre on the site of the former train tracks.   The exhibition centre will be levelled after it has hosted the Olympic Volleyball championships in 2012. Discussions have already been held with Berkeley Homes about providing the housing.   Empress State, a 30-storey tower owned by Land Securities, will also be included in the masterplan.   CapCo is negotiating the purchase of a 50% stake in the £200m, 442,000 sq ft block, which is occupied by the Metropolitan Police.   Original plans for the redevelopment of 40 acres of land around Earls Court and Olympia have been dramatically expanded from 7m sq ft.   The developer – led by Ian Hawksworth – was approached by Hammersmith council last year.   It was asked if 23 acres of council housing and the 23 acres of land owned by TfL that split the site could be included in a comprehensive masterplan to provide a new heart for west London.   Hammersmith council leader Stephen Greenhaugh is thought to be anxious to break up the monolithic council estates in the borough.   US planner Urban Strategies has been working up a statement of principles for the land, which was expected to be revealed to interested parties on Thursday, while architect KPF is currently working on early layouts.   CapCo has been increasingly moving into large mixed-use projects since Hawksworth joined the business in 2006.   In April, the group split the business into two divisions – development and management – in a bid to be recognised as a serious mixed-use developer.   peter.bill@egi.co.uk