Buildings

Battersea power station: conquering the Everest of real estate

By 2022-09-16T06:00:00

Battersea Power Station - Power Station Across The River - credit John Sturrock

Source: John Sturrock

It has been compared to climbing the world’s highest mountain but the redeveloped Battersea power station is now, finally, complete

The long-running saga of Battersea power station is coming to a close, nearly 40 years after it stopped generating electricity. Since then, the mighty brick edifice has defied numerous attempts to give it a new lease of life. One of the wackier ideas was to turn it into a theme park in the 1980s. Then, in the 2000s, there was a plan to build a 300m-high “eco chimney” next to it, a proposal which was described by then London mayor Boris Johnson as looking like an inverted toilet roll holder.

The biggest redevelopment problem has been the sheer scale of the thing combined with its poor condition. Constructed from six million bricks, the power station covers more than two hectares. St Paul’s Cathedral could be fitted into the main boiler house alone.

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