Battersea Power Station creative hub plans

Battersea Power Station could become a hub for creative businesses, under plans set out by its new owner, Real Estate Opportunities.

Treasury Holdings, which is managing the central London mixed-use development projecton behalf of REO, will target creative businesses to take up residence in the site’s230 000m2 of commercial spacewhen it opens in 2020.

The date may seem far off, but a spokesman for the property developer reveals that if planning permission is granted, design consultancies will potentially be brought on board for the design phase of the project in about three years.

Construction is due to begin in 2012.Treasury Holdings publishedits masterplan at the weekend,including a landmark building byarchitect Rafael Viñoly (pict ured)and a 2.5ha public park.

There are also plans for hotels, offices, 3200 new homes and two shopping malls in the station’s old turbine halls.The plan will be submitted to Wandsworth Council in the first quarter of next year.

The 750 000 m2 commercial, residential and retail development  will include a Greenpower station running on solar energy, waste and biofuels that would make the site virtually carbon neutral.

The planning process isexpected to take two to threeyears, and includes a six-monthpublic consultation launched atthe site last weekend.

‘The plans are designed to appeal to tenants that are interested in long-term sustainability, so the creative industries will be particularlyt argeted, since they are likely to be more concerned about these issues,’ says a Treasury Holdings spokesman.

Treasury Holdings plans to spend £4bn on the site, pledging to spend at least £150m on saving architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s 1930s power station, which is now classed as in a ‘very bad’condition by English Heritage.

‘We think we have a realistic masterplan that is deliverable,’says the company’s spokesman. ‘Treasury Holdings has a history of completing such large-scale projects and has the expertise and the track record to deliver these plans.’

POWER STATION PLANS

• A new biofuel energy plant located in the basement of the original power station would make use of its four chimneys to expel water vapour
• A 300m-high chimney and eco-dome are planned for the site adjacent to the station
• The new chimney will draw air up through a campus of office buildings, covered by a light, transparent dome made of material similar to that used at the Eden Project in Cornwall
• The chimney will also house apartments with panoramic views over London. More than 3200 homes will be built on the entire site
• At twice the height of the Gherkin, the new tower is likely to face serious resistance from local community groups in Battersea