New Battersea Power Station Plans Submitted

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 182 months ago

Last Updated 19 October 2009

New Battersea Power Station Plans Submitted

1910_battersea.jpg

The latest plans for Battersea Power Station have parked up on the doormat of Wandsworth Council, after developers submitted the planning application.

No prizes for guessing that it’s a mixed-use proposal, which sees the derelict structure re-jigged into office space, residential units, a hotel, shops, and restaurants to feed all those US embassy workers who’ll be housed nearby by the time it’s finished. A zero-carbon power station on site would keep the generating legacy alive, while the existing chimneys would be retained and the turbine halls turned into exhibitions space. Oh, and there's a Northern Line extension to serve the site, something that the site owner previously agreed to fund but is now likely to be done through tax increment financing.

Rob Tincknell, of developer Treasury Holdings, thinks the mixed-use proposal could be "a cultural icon for London like the Guggenheim Bilbao or Sydney Opera House", neatly ignoring the fact that London already has plenty of icons and doesn’t need to be make a splash on the cultural map like the Spanish and Australian cities did.

Iconic significance aside, it’s certainly vast: the biggest planning application ever seen in London,with 8.3m sq ft of floor space and a price tag of £5.5 billion. In a time of economic and political flux, amidst ongoing "material uncertainties" about the financial viability of site owner Real Estate Opportunities, it's safe to argue that the whole endeavour remains daubed with uncertainty.