Our friends over at London Reconnections spotted this intriguing video last week. Produced by Hammersmith & Fulham council, it's a vision of how Old Oak Common could be redeveloped.
A mostly-forgotten scrub of industrial land and railway depots at the moment, Old Oak Common, near Harlseden, could undergo a huge redevelopment should HS2 go ahead. A new transport interchange linking the high-speed line with National Rail, Crossrail, London Overground and the Tube would be the catalyst for a major above-ground building project, likened by those backing it as on the scale of Canary Wharf or Stratford, and bringing in tens of thousands of jobs and new homes. Sir Terry Farrell's on hand to masterplan the whole thing, which has been christened Park Royal City.
All well and good, and the video has lots of inspiring, visionary stuff (we're intrigued by the "Jobs Express Light Railway", though we're not sure if this is named in reference to the employment opportunities its construction would afford or in honour of the late Apple CEO).
However, what lifts this video above others of its ilk is the decision to use, by way of soundtrack, a re-worked version of Starship's "We Built This City" (once voted the worst song of the 1980s by Rolling Stone readers), with the refrain in the chorus switched from "rock and roll" to the eminently more sensible "rails and road". It really has to be heard to be believed. Don't blame us if you're humming it for the rest of the day.
Some more constructive thoughts over at London Reconnections.
