Battersea Power Station and the 7 designs that didn’t happen

The redevelopment of Battersea Power Station and the surrounding Nine Elms area is under way and will be one of the largest housing projects in the capital, creating thousands of homes and brining with it a Northern Line extension.

This is welcome news, as it ensures a future for the iconic power station which was slowly crippling away; however these plans are not the first attempt to make use of the long abandoned building.

No less than 7 plans have been drawn up over the past 30 years to redevelop Battersea Power Station and all have come to nothing. Some were so outrageously ambitious, you have to wonder what the developers were thinking.

1. Battersea Museum of London’s History

Battersea Redevelopment history

The first of our failed plans was drawn up right after the power station was permanently closed in 1983. The company who owned the building help a competition to find the best idea for what to do with the site.

This was the winning design, a museum of London’s history featuring exhibitions on the Great Fire of London, the industrial revolution, the Blitz and many more. A ship would be moored directly opposite on the Thames and blimps would float above.

Battersea Power station design

 

2. Battersea Theme Park

Battersea Redevelopment

 

A somewhat more ambitious (crazy?) plan was drawn up in 1986 which would see the entire building and surrounding area transformed into a theme park, quipped with rides, arcades, an ice rink and even a Ye Olde English village.

Battersea Redevelopment

 

Amazingly this plan actually nearly happened! Developers had finished removing the roof from the old power station before they realised that the whole thing would be far too expensive so work ground to a halt (phew!)

 

3. Battersea Hotel

colourful-hotel

After the theme park failure, the site was sold again to a consortium of companies that were determined to turn the place into a hotel. The first proposal was the colourful structure seen above, designed by the architect of several Las Vegas hotels (can’t you tell?).

4. Battersea Hotel (again)

2001arup (1)

A much more toned down design would have also seen a hotel built on the site, but this would have been mixed with housing, park land and offices.

upper2

A slight redesign of this proposal would have seen a hotel built on the roof of the power station.

 

5. Battersea Shopping Mall.

bsea

After failing to get anywhere with a series of hotel proposals, the developers decided to throw all reason out the window and design a massive housing district with the Power Station at the centre, redesigned as a shopping mall

The reason this proposal would become the most controversial of all is because it included a 300m glass chimney that would be used to collect air and cool the entire complex. This obviously failed to get planning permission and it was back to the drawing board, again.

battersea Redevelopment

 

6. Battersea Stadium

Battersea Redevelopment

in 2012 after 3 years of no activity, the site was sold again. Out of the blue Chelsea FC reveal their grand plan to transform the crumbling power station into a 60,000 seater football ground.

chelsea

7. Battersea Park

Battersea Park Design

One of the more elegant proposals was to demolish 2 walls of the power station and allow a park to flow through the structure, with the chimneys regenerated to make them safe.

8. Battersea Power Station Redevelopment (what is actually happening!)

Battersea Redevelopment

 

Finally! It took us over 30 years but we finally have our new design for Battersea Power Station and the surrounding area. This design beat out the Chelsea proposal, probably because it adds thousands of homes and large amount of office space to an area in need of some investment. Work has already started, so this one is definitely happening!

Daniel Pharaoh

Daniel Pharaoh

London Writer and Blogger. Featured in the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times.

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