Battersea Power Station plans unveiled

The new owners of the Battersea Power Station site have unveiled ambitious plans for the London landmark and its surroundings which include proposals for a 300-metre glass tower - taller than Canary Wharf - and some eight million square feet of shops, flats, offices and a hotel.

The restoration of the brick-built, listed power plant, expected to cost some £150 million, is included in the master plan for the 38-acre site. The whole scheme has a £4bn price tag.

A key feature of the proposals is the proposed 330-metre Chimney and Eco-Dome which will incorporate what is claimed will be the largest ever solar-driven natural ventilation system.

The Eco-Dome, made of material similar to what was used for the Eden Project, will house an office campus. The tower will include flats with panoramic views of London.

This element of the master-plan just announced by Treasury Holdings UK has been designed by the world-renowned architect Rafael Vinoly.

The restored power station will incorporate a combined cooling, heat and power plant fuelled by "green" energy sources which help make the scheme a zero-carbon development, the developers have claimed.

The proposals include a six-acre public park, a riverside walk and an urban square. The developers have confirmed they are in discussion with Transport for London and other landowners about building an extension of the Northern Line to Kennington to bring the tube to Battersea.

Robert Tincknell, managing director of Treasury Holdings, said: "We don’t embark on projects that we can't deliver. We are determined that Londoners will not be disappointed and this area will be brought back to life in the most spectacular way."

Since the power station finally closed in the 1980s the site has been the subject of a number of aborted schemes.

Roger Milne

26 June 2008