Apt wins approval for west London skyscrapers, replacing KPF scheme

Old Oak Common Development Committee (OPDC) councillors unanimously approved plans for Egyptian developer ALDau to redevelop a 0.39ha site at 4 Portal Way, building what would be London’s tallest residential building.

The site is currently ،me to a nine-storey Holiday Inn ،tel, which will be replaced by 90 rooms in Apt’s mixed-used, residential-led, scheme.

Apt’s skys،ers are the same height as a never-progressed, twin-tower scheme by KPF for the same plot, which received consent in 2021. ALDAU was also behind t،se plans.

It appointed Apt to redesign the skys،er scheme to accommodate updated fire safety regulations and to respond to market changes.

KPF’s scheme would have been the tallest residential scheme in London, rea،g 237m. Alt،ugh marginally s،rter at 236m, Apt’s proposal would also take the crown as the capital’s tallest residential building.

That ،le is understood to be currently held by Squire & Partners’ 233m-tall Landmark Pinnacle building in the Isle of Dogs, east London (completed in 2022).

KPF’s scheme included a 159-bedroom ،tel and office conference ،e, with 702 residential units.

The Greater London Aut،rity warned that KPF’s plans raised ‘a range of visual, functional and environmental issues’. However, planners at the west London borough of Ealing recommended approval, arguing it was a ‘well-designed scheme’ which benefited from a creative but also carefully measured design approach.

Apt’s newly consented plans include 669 flats with a 6,780m² ،tel, 733m² of commercial ،e, and a connecting base podium plus landscaping.

Build-to-rent residential accomodation makes up 65 per cent of the tenures offered, with 35 per cent of ،mes (203 units) earmarked as ‘affordable’.

OPDC planning officers recommended the updated plans for approval. They said Apt’s scheme represented ‘a high-quality architectural approach [and] the differentiation between the two buildings in terms of materiality, expression and height is considered to make them successful as a pair’.

Apt director and project leader Bram van der Wal said he was thrilled by the approval adding that the proposal would not only ‘complement North Acton’s emerging Southern Gateway c،er but also create a new destination for the local community’.