Battersea Power Station Redevelopment In Doubt

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 147 months ago
Battersea Power Station Redevelopment In Doubt

The existing, and possibly doomed, plans for Battersea's redevelopment.

In what will come as little surprise to those familiar with the site's chequered history, the £5.5bn proposed redevelopment of Battersea Power Station has been thrown into doubt because the owner is set to go into receivership. Real Estate Opportunities, which owns 54% of the site, owes £325m to various banking groups, and the debts have now been called in. The Telegraph has a great report that delves into the intricacies of the financial wrangling.

The news will be welcomed by the Battersea Power Station User Group, which has long campaigned against the various botched development plans. The group has previously argued that REO's financial precariousness would hobble the project, a prediction that turns out to have been wise.

The failure of this latest project, the fourth attempt to redevelop the ailing site since it closed in the early 1980s, comes at an awkward moment, just days after the Government approved a Northern line extension to serve the area. Last month Chelsea also revealed that they were considering the option of building a new stadium in the area, which could be an anchor point for a wider redevelopment. But for the meantime, the future of the ageing structure, whose chances of survival diminish with every passing year, remains uncertain.

Last Updated 02 December 2011