Battersea Power Station has stood empty for a long time awaiting development and approval of plans. Now it's been announced that in October 2013, conversion into new homes will finally begin thirty years after the power station closed. The Battersea Power Station Development Company is behind the venture and in charge of the restoration of the Grade II listed building battery power station.
In October in 2010 [2013] it would be the 30th anniversary since the power station was closed down. The project to convert it to housing will take 3 years, to accomplish in 2016 and preparatory work has begun.
The restoration project will encounter millions of pounds and should include much major repair work before any renovation is obviously undertaken. The very first phase of the building work is to repair the external brickwork, clean the towers, do work to the steel frame, repair and replace windows and take down and rebuild the famous chimneys. The chimneys is going to be reconstructed to the exact same design but utilizing the latest safety and structural standards. The theory is to keep the building looking the exact same and as a tattoo of London.
The newest Battersea development would be the heart of a brand new 39 acre community and will be a unique development in London, with various phases.
A special team has been come up with to work on the site and the key developer for phase 1 as been announced as Carillion with the architect being Ian Simpson Architects and de Rijke Marsh Morgan. The contract for the first phase is rumoured to be worth around £400 million and is going to be one of many largest in London at the present time. Carillion is one of many UK's largest construction firms and already has a number of high profile development schemes udder its belt such as Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport and Crossrail and the Royal Liverpool Hospital Project.
The very first phase is going to be referred to as Circus West and will be to the west side of the Power Station and will include around 850 one, two and three bedroom apartments, also town houses and luxury penthouses. There may also be shops, commercial units, cultural buildings an d community spaces. When completed the complete development provides a lot more than 3,500 new homes. It may also create a large amount of new jobs.
Battersea Power Station is the greatest brick building in Europe and was noted for its Art Deco interior and decor. It is a vintage coal-fired power station on the bank of the Thames river, in South-West London. It is obviously two individual power stations which were built at different times but within one building. The very first part was built in the 1930's and the second part 20 years later. They've an identical design giving the iconic 4 chimney look. The energy station stopped making electric in 1983 and has stood empty ever since. However appearances in several music videos for the Beaatles, Take That and Judas Priest and importantly gracing the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals have managed to get an original landmark for London.
Prior to the 1930's it had been for the local councils to provide electric and so there were small power stations to do the job for different districts and the power was useful for a certain factory or industry and excess was sold to the public. However as they certainly were small places the quality and voltage and frequency of the power differed greatly. In 1925 the Government decided there should be a single power grid with uniform standards. The London Power Company was formed from many of small power suppliers. Their first super power station was built at Battersea whilst the proximity to the river allowed for easy cooling of the systems and good for delivery of the coal and was in one's heart of London to provide electric to. There clearly was much opposition on the grounds that the building will be an eye-sore so the company introduced a popular architect to style the exterior. When it opened it had been the absolute most thermally efficient power station in the world. It absolutely was built in 2 stage and by enough time the second phase was completed the UK's electric supply have been nationalised and ownership was passed to the British Electricity Authority.
In 2004 it had been listed on the World Monuments Watch list. The existing state of the building has been deemed very bad by English Heritage who listed it as an 'at risk' building.
There were a number of redevelopment plans over the years as different companies overran the site. In 2004 there clearly was a redevelopment project in the pipe line but the present debts of over £750 million, the necessity that any development must incorporate a £200 million contribution to a proposed extension of the London Underground, the need for a waste transfer plant and cement factory on the banks of the river and the conversation required, managed to get an unattractive investment and a difficult commercial project.
In 2006 it had been bought by an Irish company for £400 million. They initially planned to refurbish your website into a public venue and housing. The plan was granted permission to go ahead but the Irish company's debts meant the administrations were called in at the end of December 2011 and in July 2012 it had been sold to a Malaysian owned consortium for the exact same amount whilst the Irish company bought it for. Most interested parties simply wanted to demolish the structure and redevelop the land and it's took careful negotiation to discover a firm willing to undertake the conservation and refurbishment, while developing a commercial venture.
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, battery power station remarked that "This iconic London landmark has lain dormant for too long and it's fantastic news so it will undoubtedly be home to a hive of activity that boosts the economy in the capital and beyond. I'm delighted that people are in possession of one of many UK's leading firms aboard to greatly help deliver what's undoubtedly among London's most significant construction projects in decades.
