B&Q Developer Hails New Consents from Hounslow Council
No indication that work is due to start on London Motorsport Campus
A visualisation of the London Motorsport Campus viewed from Chiswick Flyover. Picture: Reef + Partners
March 13, 2026
Reef + Partners have announced that they have secured the revised consents for the redevelopment of the B&Q site in Chiswick, presenting the decision as a major step forward for the scheme which is now branded the London Motorsport Campus.
The developer says the updated project at Larch Drive near Chiswick Roundabout, will deliver 234 flats, 275 purpose-built student bedrooms, a 189-room hotel, a large motorsport technology showcase, an education building for university-led engineering and technology courses, a motorsport experience centre, and a mix of restaurants, retail and leisure spaces arranged around a new public square called Hudson Square.
The site has been subject to redevelopment proposals for more than a decade. Early ideas emerged in the mid-2010s, eventually evolving into a scheme known as The Fourth Mile, which received planning permission in 2023. That design included a technology showcase, a hotel, retail and leisure uses and 234 build-to-rent units, all set around a new civic square.
Yet despite the approval, the site remained unchanged and the B&Q continued trading. Over the following years, the developer consulted on design refinements, rebranded the project as the London Motorsport Campus and sought new commercial partners, but no substantial construction activity took place.
The latest consent is another variation to the original permission, updating the design, layout and mix of uses. Alongside this, Hounslow Council has issued a Certificate of Lawfulness confirming that the planning permission has been implemented. The evidence for this is the demolition of a small section of perimeter wall in the northwest corner of the site, carried out between 14 and 20 January. Although the work was minimal, it was enough to count legally as the start of development.
The view across Hudson Square at the centre of the development. Picture: Reef + Partners
Under planning law, a planning permission expires after three years unless the developer has begun the development and the deadline for this is next month. Importantly, “beginning” does not require full construction. A very small action—such as digging a trench, laying a short run of foundations or demolishing a minor structure—can legally qualify as “material commencement”. Once such a step has been taken in accordance with the approved plans, the permission is considered implemented and no longer expires.
Developers frequently use this mechanism to keep a permission alive while delaying the main build, especially on large, costly or commercially uncertain sites. The demolition of the wall at the B&Q site fits this pattern preserving the planning permission indefinitely, avoiding the need for a new application and allowing the developer to continue marketing the project while postponing any major financial commitment.
We asked Reef + Partners if it had carried out this work just to keep the application alive or if it was its intention to commence construction work in earnest in the near future. We have not, as yet, received a response.
The timing also coincides with the launch of the Golden Mile’s new 15-year vision, which aims to transform the Great West Road corridor into a creative-tech innovation district. Reef’s scheme is now being presented as a gateway to that vision, alongside Hadley Property Group’s redevelopment of the former GSK headquarters. But the Golden Mile strategy is a long-term aspiration rather than a construction schedule, and the B&Q site is understood to remain a difficult location with high build costs, rising interest rates and uncertain demand for some of the proposed uses. Investment for projects in the area is currently being sought by a council team attending the MIPIM conference in Cannes.
At present, there is no sign of full-scale mobilisation. There has been no demolition of the B&Q building, no appointment of a main contractor, no visible site clearance and no published construction programme. Without these indicators, it is hard to conclude that the project is moving into delivery. The latest consent therefore keeps the scheme alive on paper, but it does not guarantee that construction will begin soon. The London Motorsport Campus remains an ambitious vision, but the site itself is still in a holding pattern.
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