Developer of £8bn scheme to go to market early in the new year once planning permission is granted

Battersea 4

The developer of the £8bn Battersea Power Station scheme expects to go to market for a main contractor early next year.

Speaking to Building, Rob Tincknell, chief executive of the Battersea Power Station Development Company, said the developer would tender for a main contractor for the first phase of the project early in the new year, by which time he hopes the scheme will have gained planning permission.

Tincknell said the developer would be seeking a main contractor, rather than a development partner, with the work tendered as a construction job.

He said: “What we’re looking for is a contractor we can work with in the long term, who can support the development and support the kind of timescales we’re looking at.”

Tincknell added that the company was in the process of drawing up design briefs for the second phase of the project and that he hoped to appoint a design team early in 2013.

The Battersea Power Station Development Company applied to Wandsworth council for detailed planning permission for the first phase of the project in October this year. Tincknell said he expected the application to be decided before Christmas.

New York-based architect Rafael Viñoly’s masterplan for the 39 acre site won outline planning permission in 2011, shortly before the site was sold to a Malaysian consortium.

The first phase of the project comprises two buildings of varied heights between eight and 18 storeys to be built to the west of the power station building.

It will provide 800 homes, a hotel and space for cafes, restaurants, bars, a gym, pool, spa, theatre and office studios. A six-acre park will form the setting for the new buildings.

For the full interview with Rob Tincknell see here.