Policy information sourced from Fitzrovia Area Action Plan

UCH and University Street Character Area

This area is defined by being home to the University College Hospital (UCH), alongside related facilities including the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Maternity Wing, UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre, and various University College teaching and research facilities concerned with health, medicine and biosciences.

These institutional buildings are generally large in scale, have a large grain, and offer blank frontages to the street in many locations. They have greater servicing requirements than offices.

Opportunity Sites

Grafton Way Group:

5. Rosenheim Building

6. Odeon Site

Character Area Principles

The Jeremy Bentham Pub on the corner of University Street and Huntley Street is one of the only active street frontages in the area and adds life to the street. The active frontage should be retained or re-provided.

Development adjacent to Mortimer Market should be designed to address the space, for example with windows and entrances rather than blank facades and building services.

Redevelopment of the Mortimer Market Centre should explore reorienting the building to create a perimeter block with a courtyard or pocket park space in the centre of the city block alongside Mortimer Market.

It is acknowledged that windows addressing a public courtyard or park may not be appropriate for certain medical/ healthcare uses providing treatment facilities.

Redevelopment on the block bounded by Tottenham Court Road, Torrington Place, Huntley Street and Capper Street should consider retention and extension the network of pedestrian laneways.

Development adjacent to Grafton Way and works to Grafton Way associated with the West End Project should seek to improve the relationship between the buildings and the street, ease pedestrian movements and improve the pedestrian environment. Wider footways, landscaping and tree planting should be considered where appropriate. See also further details of the West End Project on page 99 and Masterplanning principles for the Grafton Way sites on pages 121 to 122.

Public realm opportunities

In this character area we will take forward the following public realm opportunity identified by the Fitzrovia Open Space and Public Realm Study. This potential scheme will require further investigation including prioritisation against other proposals, identification of funding, transport assessment, consultation with key stakeholders and wider public consultation.

10.5 Mortimer Market Highway

Create public space with seating and planting by reclaiming carriageway and car parking space.

For more information please see the Area Action Plan