News

The London Borough of Hounslow has granted planning consent for a new Boat Store, Training Centre, Rugby Pavilion and the refurbishment of the existing Quintin Boat Club, Chiswick

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

The original timber boathouse, funded and built by Quintin Hogg in 1888, founder of the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster) was replaced by the current Arts & Crafts boathouse in 1922 and partially rebuilt following bomb damage in World War 2. The 7.5 acre site, designated as Metropolitan Open Land, is the venue for the finishing crews and presentations following the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race,

Today the buildings on the site are in a poor state of repair. It is planned that the modern facilities with equal access for all will revitalise both the Quintin Boat Club and the University Boat Club, attracting a more diverse membership and breaking down perceived barriers to participation.

The University Rugby pitch has fallen into disrepair and the new mixed surface, artificial pitch and new a stand alone pavilion will provide a home for University Rugby and other sports such as American Football and Soccer. Working with a partner, as yet to be identified, the aim is to build a new outreach programme, with the promise of early engagement with young people who may later become students at the University of Westminster.

The buildings will not be luxury or ‘show’ facilities, each is a simple utilitarian series of spaces connected to the sports they support. The grouping of new buildings is seen from the river as part of the continuation of a series of boat houses, sitting as the third building of a tryptic composed of Mortlake (formerly Isis) and Quintin Boat Club

Joanna Embling - Trustee Quintin Hogg Trust /Quintin Hogg Memorial Fund

“This has been a long and complex planning journey, due to the status of the 7.5 acre site designated as Metropolitan Open Land, and the team successfully established a case for “exceptional circumstances” development, based on high quality design and the delivery of a social outreach programme which secures the future of the building for its original purpose.”