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Power Station
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Location: Cringle Street, London, England, United Kingdom.
Phone: +44 20 7501 0688
Battersea Power Station:
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Battersea, an inner-city district of South West London. It comprises two individual power stations, built in two stages in the form of a single building. Battersea A Power Station was built in the 1930s, with Battersea B Power Station to its east in the 1950s. The two stations were built to an identical design, providing the well known four-chimney layout. The station ceased generating electricity in 1983, but over the past 50 years it has become one of the best known landmarks in London and is Grade II* listed.[1][2] The station's celebrity owes much to numerous cultural appearances, which include a shot in The Beatles' 1965 movie Help!, appearing in the video for the 1982 hit single "Another Thing Comin´" by heavy metal band Judas Priest and being used in the cover art of Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals, as well as a cameo appearance in Take That's music video "The Flood." In addition, a photograph of the plant's control room was used as cover art on Hawkwind's 1977 album Quark, Strangeness and Charm.
Since the station's closure the site has remained largely unused, with numerous failed redevelopment plans from successive site owners. The site was owned by the administrators of Irish company Real Estate Opportunities (REO), who bought it for £400 million in November 2006.[3] In November 2010, REO was granted permission to refurbish the station for public use and build 3,400 homes across the site.[4] However, this plan fell through due to REO's debt being called in by its creditors, the state-owned banks in the UK and Ireland. In July 2012, the power station was sold to a consortium led by Malaysia’s SP Setia for £400 million.
The station is the largest brick building in Europe and is notable for its original, lavish Art Deco interior fittings and decor.[5] However, the building's condition has been described as "very bad" by English Heritage and is included in its Buildings at Risk Register.[6] In 2004, while the redevelopment project was stalled, and the building remained derelict, the site was listed on the 2004 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund.[7] The combination of an existing debt burden of some £750 million, the need to make a £200 million contribution to a proposed extension to the London Underground, requirements to fund conservation of the derelict power station shell and the presence of a waste transfer station and cement plant on the river frontage make a commercial development of the site a significant challenge.[8][9] In December 2011, the latest plans to develop the site collapsed with the debt called in by the creditors.[10] In February 2012, the site was placed on sale on the open property market through commercial estate agent Knight Frank.[11][12] It has received interest from a variety of overseas consortia, most seeking to demolish or part-demolish the structure.
On 7 June 2012, it was officially announced by Knight Frank[13] that administrators Ernst & Young had entered into an exclusivity agreement with SP Setia and Sime Darby and were working towards a timely exchange and completion of the site and associated land.[14] Completion of the sale took place in September 2012, and the redevelopment intends to implement the Rafael Vinoly design which had gained planning consent from Wandsworth Council in 2011.[15] In January 2013 the first residential apartments went on sale.[16] Construction on Phase 1 is due to commence in 2013, with completion due in 2016/17.
History of Battersea Power Station:
Until the late 1930s electricity was supplied by municipal undertakings. These were small power companies that built power stations dedicated to a single industry or group of factories, and sold any excess electricity to the public. These companies used widely differing standards of voltage and frequency. In 1925 Parliament decided that the power grid should be a single system with uniform standards and under public ownership. Several of the private power companies reacted to the proposal by forming the London Power Company. They planned to heed parliament's recommendations and build a small number of very large stations.
The London Power Company's first of these super power stations was planned for the Battersea area, on the south bank of the River Thames in London. The proposal was made in 1927, for a station built in two stages and capable of generating 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity when complete.[5] The site chosen was a 15-acre (61,000 m2) plot of land which had been the site of the reservoirs for the former Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company.[18] The site was chosen for its proximity to the River Thames for cooling water and coal delivery, and because it was in the heart of London, the station's immediate supply area.
The proposal sparked protests from those who felt that the building would be too large and would be an eyesore, as well as worries about the pollution damaging local buildings, parks and even paintings in the nearby Tate Gallery. The company addressed the former concern by hiring Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to design the building's exterior. He was a noted architect and industrial designer, famous for his design of the red telephone box, and of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. He would go on to design another London power station, Bankside, which now houses Tate Modern art gallery.[5] The pollution issue was resolved by granting permission for the station on the condition that its emissions were to be treated, to ensure they were cleaner and contained less smoke.
Construction of the first phase, the A Station, began in March 1929. The main building work was carried out by John Mowlem & Co,[20] and the structural steelwork erection carried out by Sir William Arrol & Co. Other contractors were employed for specialist tasks.[19] Most of the electrical equipment, including the steam turbine turbo generators, was produced by Metropolitan-Vickers in Trafford Park, Manchester.[5] The building of the steel frame began in October 1930. Once completed, the construction of the brick cladding began, in March 1931. Until the construction of the B Station, the eastern wall of the boiler house was clad in corrugated metal sheeting as a temporary enclosure.[19] The A Station first generated electricity in 1933, but was not completed until 1935.[19][21] The total cost of its construction was £2,141,550.[19] Between construction beginning in 1929 and 1933, there were six fatal and 121 non-fatal accidents on the site.
A short number of months after the end of Second World War, construction began on the second phase, the B Station. The station came into operation gradually between 1953 and 1955.[5] It was identical to the A Station from the outside and was constructed directly to its east as a mirror to it, which gave the power station its now familiar four-chimney layout. The construction of the B Station brought the site's generating capacity up to 509 megawatts (MW), making it the third largest generating site in the UK at the time, providing a fifth of London's electricity needs. It was also the most thermally efficient power station in the world when it opened.
The A Station had been operated by the London Power Company, but by the time the B Station was completed, the UK's electric supply industry had been nationalised, and ownership of the two stations had passed into the hands of the British Electricity Authority in 1948.[5] In 1955, this became the Central Electricity Authority, which in turn became the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1957.
On 20 April 1964, the power station was the site of a fire that caused power failures throughout London, including at the BBC Television Centre, which was due to launch BBC Two that night. The launch was delayed until the following day at 11 am.
