Battersea Power Station, Nine Elms and Vauxhall - redevelopment plans and news

[Bahnhof Strasse]

On a serious note, the current owners of Battersea power station has plans to temporarily remove the chimneys to help with doing the place up.

That is bollocks. Once the chimneys come down, it's a small step before the whole thing comes down. I'd bet you a pound against a pinch of shit that's what's going on.

 

[corporate whore]

Reckon it's probably changed hands since then? The one-seat restaurant people wanted to take the chimneys down, this lot seem to have a plan for the building.

 

[perplexis]

Blatantly. As soon as they're down there'll be some profound structural reason why "they can't possibly go back up yet"... followed a while later by
"oh, what's that, Battersea Power Station is on fire you say? Too bad we'll never be able to put the stacks back up now, may as well just raze it and build some shitty flats there. You know, like Chelsea Bridge Wharf, that's well classy, sold well, let's do that, yeah, fuck the chimneys!"
lol'ing all the way to back ensues.

 

[Dask]

Me too - that was the Best Plan Yet

I wonder have far in advance you'd have to book to get that table?

"Table for 2 Sir? Please come this way..."

 

[rennie]

It looks absolutwely awful. Poor Battersea station.

 

[ScallyWag II]

Urgh, that's toss. What an ugly monstrosity

 

[Crispy]

On a serious note, the current owners of Battersea power station has plans to temporarily remove the chimneys to help with doing the place up.

That is bollocks. Once the chimneys come down, it's a small step before the whole thing comes down. I'd bet you a pound against a pinch of shit that's what's going on.

The chimneys have 'concrete cancer' and cannot be repaired. Very soon they will have to be demolished for safety reasons. There's nothing to be done.

Similarly, the building itself has been left to deteriorate for 25 years. Itt desperately needs stabilising and restoring, or it too will have to be demolished for safety.

The Big Idea for this scheme is the solar tower and funnel. Everything on the site is covered by an Eden Project style roof, the heated air rushes up the central tower and draws cooler air in from the edges. This creates a natural flow of air throughout the whole site, removing the need for artificial ventilation and much cooling.

 

[Dask]

Was there ever any graffiti at the top of one of the towers? I seem to remember seeing some when I was on a train going past. I might have imagined it/remembered incorrectly.

 

[oryx]

Was there ever any graffiti at the top of one of the towers? I seem to remember seeing some when I was on a train going past. I might have imagined it/remembered incorrectly.

I seem to remember it too - I think it was red!

I am very cynical about this. The second attempt to regenerate the Power Station and surrounding area gave the impression it was going full steam ahead, with hoardings promising jobs for local people etc. - load of PR toss that was!

I also agree with those who have expressed concern that the Power Station will be lost to developers after having been appallingly neglected for a quarter of a century.

 

[Sunray]

I was told by someone working for this body that works to protect 20th Century buildings, said that its actually not the chimneys that have concrete cancer, its the bases they are sitting on.

The previous owner was quoted something like 100 million quid for them to be held into place and the bases replaced. Thats a lot of money. Its an iconic building but it is derelict. Wouldn't that 100 million be better spent on something more worthwhile than keeping a chimney from falling down?

We have strange priorities?

The chimneys have 'concrete cancer' and cannot be repaired. Very soon they will have to be demolished for safety reasons. There's nothing to be done.

Similarly, the building itself has been left to deteriorate for 25 years. Itt desperately needs stabilising and restoring, or it too will have to be demolished for safety.

The Big Idea for this scheme is the solar tower and funnel. Everything on the site is covered by an Eden Project style roof, the heated air rushes up the central tower and draws cooler air in from the edges. This creates a natural flow of air throughout the whole site, removing the need for artificial ventilation and much cooling.

 

[ViolentPanda]

We had a thread several years ago about Battersea Power Station where quite a few posters arrived at the conclusion that it'd be neglected (not deliberately of course, oh no, most certainly not!) until it was too far gone to preserve, and then the whole site would be cleared and developed.
These latest plans don't reassure me that the above won't still happen.

 

[Dan U]

We had a thread several years ago about Battersea Power Station where quite a few posters arrived at the conclusion that it'd be neglected (not deliberately of course, oh no, most certainly not!) until it was too far gone to preserve, and then the whole site would be cleared and developed.
These latest plans don't reassure me that the above won't still happen.

like the mystery 'fires' so beloved by developers in old hospitals and other similar sites (allegedly of course!)

 

[Hocus Eye.]

I don't believe the story about 'concrete cancer' at Battersea Power Station. The high alumina cement which is vulnerable to concrete cancer was not brought into use until the 1960's when the desire to speed up building with concrete was urgent. During the 1930s when Battersea Power Station was built the concrete would have been standard reliable concrete. That is my guess anyway.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

like the mystery 'fires' so beloved by developers in old hospitals and other similar sites (allegedly of course!)

*cough - Coldharbour. Though there is a nice new house sat there now, guarded by two very mean rotties.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I don't believe the story about 'concrete cancer' at Battersea Power Station. The high alumina cement which is vulnerable to concrete cancer was not brought into use until the 1960's when the desire to speed up building with concrete was urgent. During the 1930s when Battersea Power Station was built the concrete would have been standard reliable concrete. That is my guess anyway.

If the Parthenon is still standing after 1600 years I can't buy the concrete cancer line either.

 

[ViolentPanda]

like the mystery 'fires' so beloved by developers in old hospitals and other similar sites (allegedly of course!)

Of course.

Thing is, it's a massive site that needs to be remediated to some extent. Now a developer will find remediation a lot cheaper and quicker if they don't have a pesky big listed building to worry about too, so the last 20 years of exposing the building's interior to the elements ("accidentally", of course!) is just a little too convenient, isn't it?

 

[ViolentPanda]

I don't believe the story about 'concrete cancer' at Battersea Power Station. The high alumina cement which is vulnerable to concrete cancer was not brought into use until the 1960's when the desire to speed up building with concrete was urgent. During the 1930s when Battersea Power Station was built the concrete would have been standard reliable concrete. That is my guess anyway.

In fact the only part of the stacks that should be high alumina would be the internal lining (one of the many formulations of so-called "fire cement" IIRC), which would have to cope with the heat from the waste gases.

 

[editor]

We went along to a rare open day on Saturday at the power station and it was fantastic to finally get up close to this iconic building.

I've no idea how likely it is that the ambitious plans for its regeneration will ever come to fruition, but I like the look of the tower and the idea of having the building generating electricity again is a clever one.

Check out the official site here: http://www.battersea-powerstation.com/

 

[zenie]

But no chimneys

 

[London_Calling]

That'll work

 

[Crispy]

There are no chimneys in that picture because the power plant is not in that picture. The chimneys are to the right and are cropped out in that image.

 

[zenie]

There are no chimneys in that picture because the power plant is not in that picture. The chimneys are to the right and are cropped out in that image.

Hmm...so what are they doing with the power plant, and what's that model above got to do with it then?

 

[London_Calling]

But the glass shape (that you can just see behind the tower in this image) was attached to the chimney's in previously posted images. Maybe it's a different concept already . . .

 

[London_Calling]

Oh, hang on, I was wrong:

There are no chimneys in that picture because the power plant is not in that picture. The chimneys are to the right and are cropped out in that image.

Is the right answer!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Wasn't it the biggest brick construction in the world when it was built?

Wonder how many brickies worked on it and if they knocked it down, how many houses all those bricks could build?

 

[London_Calling]

I'm intrigued by what seems to be a waterway in the foreground of the shot I just posted - isn't that Queenstown Road leading up to Chelsea Bridge?

 

[Leafster]

I'm intrigued by what seems to be a waterway in the foreground of the shot I just posted - isn't that Queenstown Road leading up to Chelsea Bridge?

I think Queenstown Road is the other side of the Gasworks that you can see at the bottom right of the photo. I guess it looks like they are planning on putting a new waterway between the gasworks and the new buildings.

 

[editor]

There are no chimneys in that picture because the power plant is not in that picture. The chimneys are to the right and are cropped out in that image.

It's part of the same development but was the only pic I could find of the groovy tower (until I post my own pics up.)

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's part of the same development but was the only pic I could find of the groovy tower (until I post my own pics up.)

there were some in the Standard the other week

 

[teuchter]

Oh, hang on, I was wrong:

Is the right answer!

For me, this latest scheme fails in the same way as almost all of the previous ones in that it just doesn't give the existing building enough breathing space. Either in plan, or in terms of the view from the other side of the river. The new tower completely dwarfs what is one of London's most dramatic buildings. I think that Battersea power station is iconic enough that there should be planning restrictions on the height of buildings in its vicinity in the same way as there are for St. Paul's.