Quintin Boat Club

Plans approved for new rowing and rugby facilities on the banks of the River Thames

Plans have been approved for a £10 million overhaul of the Quintin Boat Club and the University of Westminster Boat Club, located on the banks of the River Thames, close to Chiswick. This will see the creation of a new boat store and rugby pavilion, an all-weather floodlight sports pitch, together with the conservation and refurbishment of the existing boathouse. The site is the venue for the finishing crews and presentations of the historical Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

The original timber boathouse, built and funded by Quintin Hogg in 1888, founder of the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster) was replaced by the current arts and crafts boathouse in 1922 and partially rebuilt following bomb damage in World War 2. Today the buildings are in a poor state of repair.

As the 7.5 acre site is designated as Metropolitan Open Land and is within the Grove Park Conservation Area and surrounded by listed buildings including Chiswick Bridge, a townscape and visual appraisal (TVA) was completed. The appraisal described and evaluated the change to the townscape and visual amenity; the extent to which the proposed development affected perception and views of the townscape and considered its effect on the setting of listed buildings within its proximity.

Landscape architecture design proposals carefully considered the historical nature of the site and delivered a sensitive landscape-led development that preserved its openness. Arboriculture and ecology surveys were also completed by Urban Green.

The development secures the future of the boathouse, offering safe and secure storage for more than double the number of boats and the critical mass to underpin an outreach programme providing opportunities for wider community use.

The scheme will commence on site Summer 2020, with an anticipated completion of 2021.