WilkinsonEyre was appointed in 2013 for the refurbishment of the iconic Grade II listed Battersea Power Station. The proposed designs are consistent with and sympathetic to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s masterpiece, with the chimneys and turbine halls remaining the dominant features of the building.
Retaining the power station’s sense of scale and visual drama is key to the project. Large volume spaces expose the historic fabric internally and juxtapose new and old construction. The Turbine Halls are the principal grand spaces and they are brought back to life through new uses.
Three levels of retail space will span across the two turbine halls and central boiler house. Over the retail space, residential accommodation will be created in the two lower-level annexes that sit to the east and west of the building and, in between, a triple-height leisure level with event space, cinema and hotel.
Above this, six new storeys of office space are arranged around a grand atrium. On the roof, a new high-level garden square, surrounded by contemporary residential villas is framed by the four iconic chimneys.
The turbine halls are the heroic interior spaces of the power station, and the vast walls of polished tiles in Turbine Hall A were once likened to a Greek temple. The magnificent space is equal in size to the turbine hall at Tate Modern and many of the original finishes and features survive.
The power station stopped generating electricity in 1983 but more recently a viable new masterplan by Rafael Viñoly has reframed its redevelopment as part of a wider neighbourhood. This includes improved infrastructure via an extension to the London Underground's Northern Line and connections with nearby developments at Nine Elms including the US Embassy and New Covent Garden market.
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