View Full Version : Battersea Power Station
Donna Ferentes
05-07-2005, 20:22
Pigs might fly, but apparently (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/uk_battersea_power_station/html/1.stm) work is going to start soon (if it has not started already) in order to create a large shopping, leisure, conference and accommodation complex, due to open in 2009.
I suppose the site wouldn't have been suitable for social housing or anything.
corporate whore
05-07-2005, 21:55
I suppose the site wouldn't have been suitable for social housing or anything.
My thoughts exactly. What a fucking waste of land, just when the need for affordable housing is at the top of London's agenda.
But oooh, no. Another retail experience! Greeeeeaaaaaaat. :rolleyes:
Thanks for providing a great link, Justin. That picture of the Marie Celeste-like messroom is brilliant!
I may be being cynical, but I can see what happened in the 80s (property magnate buys Power Station, starts ripping it about to develop a shrine to capitalism, recession hits, developer goes bust, one of the most magnificent buildings in London is left to rot..... :( ) happening again.
I visited the Wandsworth Museum in Garratt Lane earlier this year & there is a poignant poster in there from the early 80s. I think it's one of the Council's - "Battersea Power Station is now no longer needed by the CEGB & is available for community use....." or words to that effect. I think it dates from 1983, just before I moved here, and it really brought home to me that that is another era......whatever happened to the possibility of "community use"? (Wandsworth Council going from Labour to Thatcherite Tory is probably what).
I can see that such a huge building would be too great a challenge for most community groups but having watched it decay in parallel with the magnificent regeneration of Bankside, I lament it not having been used similarly - it would have made a great museum of London's industrial heritage, for example, or even another art gallery!
As for social housing - there is a weeny amount of Section 16 (planning gain) social housing on the site (the site is HUGE) within the luxury :rolleyes: :rolleyes: riverside apartments, but that is a drop in the ocean & from what I've heard, it is shared ownership only & starts at c. £200,000. :mad:
Donna Ferentes
05-07-2005, 22:37
Making it social housing in no sense that I can think of (a point I'm well aware you were not oblivious to).
Phototropic
05-07-2005, 22:41
Got the shock of my life (well not quite but let's excuse hyperbole for a min) was watching Monty Python the other day and it had a view over London and there was smoke coming out of Battersea Power Station!
I fucking love the building. I find it absolutly incredible that there was a time when something like that had to be built brick by brick. Really makes you think.
EDIT: Like with all landmarks I definatley agree that they should be open to the many not the few. One of the reasons why I have never warmed to the Gherkin when I might otherwise have done.
Making it social housing in no sense that I can think of (a point I'm well aware you were not oblivious to).
Wandsworth Council have had run-ins with Ken & the GLA about trying to dodge their planning gain obligations - it is verging on the obscene that schemes like this (which is next to the Power Stn site) will tick their boxes in terms of providing "social" housing for planning gain. I think there may be some housing in the Power Stn site itself but you can bet your last penny that it will be a similar set-up.
Where do all the people come from who can afford such flats? :confused:
Donna Ferentes
05-07-2005, 22:47
They do important things like clinching deals, owning production companies and facilitating meetings.
They do important things like clinching deals, owning production companies and facilitating meetings.
Real "key" workers then!!!
I suspect a huge number are bought & let out at unthinkable rents.
One thing I have wondered recently, noticing the absolutely phenomenal amount of so-called "luxury" flats built in the last seven or so years, is if there is any housing gain lower down the chain. E.g. fantastically wealthy yup Citykids sell house in Fulham & buy £1m riverside apartment. Less wealthy yups buy house in Fulham, moving from large flat in nobby bit of Clapham. Aspiring middle-manager & partner buy large flat in Clapham, leaving their less large 2-bed flat in, say, Brixton or Balham. Teacher & her partner mortgage themselves to the hilt to buy Brixton/Balham flat, leaving their one-bed council flat. And so on. The "chain" will often be longer & more complicated, but what I mean is that there should, numerically, be more housing available, even if the new stuff is blatantly not affordable.
The reason there isn't is unclear to me: I suspect second homes, the trend towards more people in smaller units, & a transient population in the higher end of the rental market all play a part.
TorchSong
05-07-2005, 23:12
Pigs might fly, but apparently (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/uk_battersea_power_station/html/1.stm) work is going to start soon (if it has not started already) in order to create a large shopping, leisure, conference and accommodation complex, due to open in 2009.
I suppose the site wouldn't have been suitable for social housing or anything.Same shit as ever, sadly. I mean, why pay any attention to socio-economic policies when there's a menacing backhander from a decidedly humungous multinational property developer on the cards, eh Tony...? Hmmm?
Nice link Justin.
Where do all the people come from who can afford such flats? :confused:
I got a river taxi from Westminster to Kew last month and had no idea just how many of these luxury riverside appartments there were now. All of them seem to be cut from a similar blueprint too - sort of bridge of a ship look - really ugly from the outside.
I heard as well, that many get bought as investments or to rent out.
They've beeen promising to regenerate it since I was a kid, I'll believe it when I see it.
Great, great building though, its a shame it wasn't regenerated for the Millenium instead of the bloody Dome.
ska invita
06-07-2005, 09:46
dont mean to be pedantic, but I dont think it would make good housing... there would be no windows.
Not a problem. Then you wouldn't see all the chavs who would live there... :D
Always been fascinated by Battersea's Power Station. I hope it is open to the public before I die, though I would not want to see the predictable and bland restaurants and shops plaguing the place.
Fanstatic pictures on that BBC article. It was almost like one of Ed's photo features on U75.
In fact I'm sure Ed would love to be let loose in there with a camera for a few hours... :D
lang rabbie
06-07-2005, 10:42
Great, great building though, its a shame it wasn't regenerated for the Millenium instead of the bloody Dome.
A heretic writes...
Is it really a great building? I can't make my mind up :confused:
Station A (the 1929 half of the bulding - it only had two chimneys until the 1950s!) has some fine art deco interiors around the control room.
http://www.riskybuildings.org.uk/img/13battersea/03.jpg
But given the destruction of the rest of the interior, would they be better understood reassembled in the Science Museum rather than in the middle of a shopping mall?
I agree the chimneys are a landmark, and part of the folk memory of anyone brought up in the last sixty years in south London and those parts of the south of England served by trains to Victoria or Waterloo - for whom it meant there was only ten minutes before arrival in the capital.
It shows how architecture can be used to tame a bloody enormous bit of engineering in distant views. The architect Giles Gilbert Scott was only brought in because of protests that the building was too large and would be an eyesore for long distances along the river!
But it certainly isn't on a human scale, and I suspect that seen close up all those millions of bricks will look just as dull as Bankside does.
Obviously the power station itself wouldn't make great housing material, but there's a huge area around it which would...
As for the power house, I always think of Pink Floyd's Animals album when I see it! :D
Couldn't they turn it into a massive, affordable, leisure centre? (or at least some of it?). If they really gave a shit they'd do that, and also add some other community orientated things to it, like a libray, doctor's surgery, dentist, maybe even some sort of adult education college...
Nah, it'd never happen! :(
They should have used it to house the British Library instead of the red brick monstrosity in St Pancras.
Tricky Skills
06-07-2005, 13:01
The BBC gained access for those wonderful pictures because of the 'story' that a Jobcentre has just opened up on site. Owners Parkview promise 9,000 local jobs, but I can only find two advertised online.
Local toady MP Martin Linton doesn't inspire confidence either, being a lobbyist for Parkview :(
I've blooged a little about this with all the links and stuff HERE (http://www.onionbagblog.com) - scroll down a post or two.
corporate whore
06-07-2005, 18:08
[QUOTE=lang rabbie]Is it really a great building? I can't make my mind up[QUOTE=lang rabbie]
Wouldn't miss it if it went, tbh. Wish it had graced Pink Floyd's 'Relics' album cover, rather than 'Dark Side..' 'cos that's what it is. IMHO, naturally..
Tricky Skills
06-07-2005, 20:44
Um...
Actually it graced Animals (http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/P/pfloyd_animals.html).
corporate whore
06-07-2005, 21:19
:o of course...
So who is reponsible for all the hi-falutin' bullshit posters outside the power station? The ones telling you about the Ideas Generation (whatever the hell that is) and 'motivational' straplines such as "I think, there I can"?
Makes me retch every time I pass it on the bus. Empty, meaningless crap.
districtline
08-07-2005, 14:16
i remember having a few friends coming over from abroad, this was when i was living in london, and they wanted me to take them on a tour of the city. i started at battersea power plant. only unofficiall sightseeing tours like mine start there :D
love that building though and living in that tiny room in fulham was worth it when i could go jogging to the gates of battersea park and look at the power plan in the summer evenings.
I've always wanted to know more about the doomed theme park that was going to be built in the late 80's.
Are there any plans online to illustrate what it could of looked like it it had gone ahead?
I've always had images in my mind of a rollercoaster going round the chimneys. :D
lang rabbie
08-07-2005, 14:41
I've always wanted to know more about the doomed theme park that was going to be built in the late 80's.
Are there any plans online to illustrate what it could of looked like it it had gone ahead?
I've always had images in my mind of a rollercoaster going round the chimneys. :D
Haven't seen anything visual - but this gives a flavour...
... a syndicate led by one John Broome was given the go-ahead to turn it into a leisure centre and entertainment park. Among the novel features they proposed were electronic golf, a dance floor and gym. There would be a swimming pool, jogging track, weights room and health spa. There were to be cinemas, shops, restaurants and tea rooms. There would be an oceanarium, carousels and Disney-style rides. An all-in ticket, priced £3.50, would admit you to everything.
Not least among this plan's supporters was the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, who praised Broome, a leisure entrepreneur, for what she called his "vision". She particularly warmed to his intended "theming" of Battersea, which was meant to turn the great Deco hall of turbo-alternator No 3 into "The World of Dickens" and give a similar adjacent industrial cavern a new "Tudor look". Between the buildings and the river, where once 85,000 tons of coal had been piled, a "Tivoli-style gardens" would be laid out, while the entrance to the station was to get a "Victorian" glass canopy. .
Source: http://briandeer.com/leisure.htm
So who is reponsible for all the hi-falutin' bullshit posters outside the power station? The ones telling you about the Ideas Generation (whatever the hell that is) and 'motivational' straplines such as "I think, there I can"?
Makes me retch every time I pass it on the bus. Empty, meaningless crap.
If you think that's bad, take a look at their website:
http://www.thepowerstation.co.uk/bps_site_001/
The bit about "location" emphasises that it is next to Kensington & Chelsea. No mention of which bit of Battersea it's in, or of it being in Wandsworth Borough. I thought they were both OK areas myself, but they are obviously far too vulgar and too rough ;) :D to be mentioned, lest the gilded potential occupants of this site be frightened away..............
Donna Ferentes
08-07-2005, 15:20
Well, some parts of the Wandsworth Road are tastier than others.
But it's on Battersea Park Road.
The bit about "location" emphasises that it is next to Kensington & Chelsea. No mention of which bit of Battersea it's in, or of it being in Wandsworth Borough. I thought they were both OK areas myself, but they are obviously far too vulgar and too rough ;) :D to be mentioned, lest the gilded potential occupants of this site be frightened away..............
There's no escaping the huge estates on the other side of the road from the Power Station... wonder what would happen to them should the site be developed?
Donna Ferentes
08-07-2005, 15:28
Indeed it is. But you'd want to know what the neighbours were like...
one reason i can speculate that it has taken so long to reach any sort of agreement on how it will be reused is that in order to reuse the site there will probably be substantial remediation costs involved. for any developer to consider undertaking this along with all the other planning gain costs that wandsworth are going to ask for they ahve ahd to find a scheme that will allow them to buy the site, cover their own build costs and planning gain costs and to still make a profit for themselves. if they didnt they wouldnt be doing it. i dont see a whole long list of public sector bodies lining up to redevelop the site do you?
There's no escaping the huge estates on the other side of the road from the Power Station... wonder what would happen to them should the site be developed?
I think you mean the Patmore and/or Savona Estate - AFAIK they are too separate from the site (other side of BP Road) to be affected architecturally (?) but socially, I would guess there will probably be an increase in value of flats bought there under the Right to Buy.
one reason i can speculate that it has taken so long to reach any sort of agreement on how it will be reused is that in order to reuse the site there will probably be substantial remediation costs involved. for any developer to consider undertaking this along with all the other planning gain costs that wandsworth are going to ask for they ahve ahd to find a scheme that will allow them to buy the site, cover their own build costs and planning gain costs and to still make a profit for themselves. if they didnt they wouldnt be doing it. i dont see a whole long list of public sector bodies lining up to redevelop the site do you?
No, I don't, but there are other parts of London which have been regenerated with a far more inclusive vision - either with publicly accessible and educational or entertainment facilities, like the Tate Modern (formerly another power station just in case anyone didn't know!) or with a mixture of these & social housing (the Greenwich site which includes the Dome :o ) or with mainly social housing (Coin Street in Waterloo). These are very loose examples, but show a large regeneration project doesn't have to be as nauseatingly upmarket & exclusive :rolleyes: :mad: as this one looks set to be.
lang rabbie
08-07-2005, 17:36
Was I the only person to think of Terry Gilliam's Brazil when I saw
this rather surreal image from the Parkview website (http://www.thepowerstation.co.uk/bps_site_001/content/images/007_003_hi.jpg) :eek:
Donna Ferentes
08-07-2005, 17:39
Funny you should say that. In the library we have videos of lectures that we lend out to those undergraduates who were too lazy to get up and watch them first time round. They all have codes (e.g. OG9 would be one in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology series) and when a student starts asking for one by the name of the lecturer or the title of the lecture, I ask them to tell me the code. Which always reminds me of the waiter: "you have to say the number".
ViolentPanda
09-07-2005, 18:57
one reason i can speculate that it has taken so long to reach any sort of agreement on how it will be reused is that in order to reuse the site there will probably be substantial remediation costs involved. for any developer to consider undertaking this along with all the other planning gain costs that wandsworth are going to ask for they ahve ahd to find a scheme that will allow them to buy the site, cover their own build costs and planning gain costs and to still make a profit for themselves. if they didnt they wouldnt be doing it. i dont see a whole long list of public sector bodies lining up to redevelop the site do you?
A cynic writes.
There were scurrilous (or not, depending on your bent) rumours flying round back in the eighties that the site was being left to rot, the rumours only being reinforced by the lack of any work being done on the site by each new owner.
It would make financial sense as well, of course. let the power station fall down (parts of it are only held up with scaffolding now anyway) and you've got the whole 21 or so acres (IIRC) to play with, and you can honestly tell EH or whoever it is who deals with destruction of listed buildings "sorry guv, natural wear and tear/act of g-d, innit?"
The amount of time that has passed also enables an unscrupulous developer to "lose" all those surveys telling him about the scale of contamination of the site rendering parts of it unfit for housing...
It amazes me how relatively short an operational life-span it had.
It's such a London icon, but the whole "four chimneys" weren't completed til the 50s and it was shut by 1983.
It would make a brilliant venue for a nightclub. They could call it, errrmmm, let me see, "The Power Station", or something.
Giles..
corporate whore
11-07-2005, 13:31
Here's some guff (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1525589,00.html) from the Guardian about wot it's all gonna look like.
Bad: 2,700 car park spaces :mad:
Good: 25m refurb for Battersea Park station, new pedestrian footbridge across the Thames :)
Silly: One table restaurants at the top of each chimney.. :rolleyes:
Donna Ferentes
11-07-2005, 13:31
Curiously enough they are in receipt of an email from my good self about said article.
corporate whore
11-07-2005, 13:41
Did you send an email because the article's a fawning critically-devoid puff-piece?
Tell me it's so..
Donna Ferentes
11-07-2005, 13:43
Dear Guardian
Jonathan Glancey may hail as visionary the plans for Battersea Power Station, but some Londoners may feel a site of thirty acres might have been used for more socially valuable purposes than offices, hotels and an exhibition venue. London is short of none of these, but is short of social and affordable housing, of which the Battersea site could have provided a good deal. This might not be as creative as Mr Glancey might like, nor "pull this down-at-heel part of Battersea into the well-heeled economy of the north bank", but it might have had the rather decent effect of providing housing for people who need it. But what is that, compared to "a sensual, subtle office complex", or a walkway with a bar?
Yours
Bad: 2,700 car park spaces :mad:
Just what traffic-choked (and tube station-less) Battersea needs – a huge car park :mad:
I've no idea how the development could accommodate that many cars, as there's too much traffic in the area already. (It's improved since the congestion charge, though, or certainly has on Battersea Park road around rush hour.)
first:
Obviously the power station itself wouldn't make great housing material, but there's a huge area around it which would...
As for the power house, I always think of Pink Floyd's Animals album when I see it! :D
then:
Wouldn't miss it if it went, tbh. Wish it had graced Pink Floyd's 'Relics' album cover, rather than 'Dark Side..' 'cos that's what it is. IMHO, naturally..
I wonder on how many people's ignore lists I must be in! :eek: :D
Donna Ferentes
11-07-2005, 16:00
Rather reminsicent of the famous lyrics to Live And Let Die...
Just what traffic-choked (and tube station-less) Battersea needs – a huge car park :mad:
Um, how else are people going to get there then...?
Donna Ferentes
11-07-2005, 16:05
Battersea Park railway station. (Mind you, if they do it'll be goodbye to my seat on the train to work.)
lang rabbie
11-07-2005, 16:40
Under previous plans, wasn't there meant to be some dedicated shuttle between Victoria, Battersea Pk and Clapham Junction? Suspect that can't happen now as there isn't enough platform space at Victoria for current services. :(
Major Tom
12-07-2005, 11:54
Just heard that the chimneys are going to be pulled down as part of the redevelopment. :eek:
They have corroded due to atmospheric salt and salty Thames water that was used to mix the concrete, apparently. And then facsimiles will be built - presumably using at least some of the original material.
Donna Ferentes
14-07-2005, 09:32
Hurrah! (http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,1527257,00.html)
If Glancey had looked beyond the hype and overblown architecture, he would find a deeply unattractive project that has no affordable housing anywhere on the 38-acre site, no decent jobs for local people and no credible public transport strategy, relying instead on 3,000 private car parking spaces and an Arup-designed pedestrian bridge.
I know it is a old topic, but... Battersea Power Station is one of my special places.
Not only for Pink Floyd and the flying pigs - I love the fact that it is a decaying place, and somehow (even if it is an irrational fantasy) I'd like it to stay as it is - not changed in anything else, solitary and without dull people crawling inside... Just a place for immagination. Last year I was living in Deeley Road (off Wandsworth Road) and every evening coming back I could see the chimneys emerging from the sky. Please don't think I'm silly, but I felt a sort of estrangement, soft despair and wonder inside. I was the only existing human being.
Donna Ferentes
28-10-2005, 22:16
A bit like this (http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=3435801&postcount=15)?
A bit like this (http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=3435801&postcount=15)?
Yes! I'm new in the forum, so I do not really know what happened before...
Last year I used to walk down Grosvenor Road untill the Chelsea Bridge -
When I came back in September it was one of the first place to which I went saying Hello... Can you say hello to places, can't you?
:rolleyes:
Donna Ferentes
28-10-2005, 22:29
Well, in Catcher In The Rye Holden always wanted to give places a proper "goodbye"...
I've never read Salinger... but I agree. Everytime I go back to Italy I say Hello to the mountains (Appennini).
Here in London - I guess the first and last place I greet is the British Library.
I like saying Hello! to the Lion and the Unicorn at the gate of Hyde Park...
(especially the unicorn)
java1200
28-10-2005, 23:03
.
nino_savatte
06-08-2006, 15:41
I was wondering what was meant to be happening as I often go past it and nothing seems to be going on.
John Broome: a man knighted for creating a pile of rubble. :mad:
Gixxer1000
06-08-2006, 19:34
let the power station fall down (parts of it are only held up with scaffolding now anyway) and you've got the whole 21 or so acres (IIRC) to play with, and you can honestly tell EH or whoever it is who deals with destruction of listed buildings "sorry guv, natural wear and tear/act of g-d, innit?"...
Quite a bit of steel temporary works retaining the interior hactually (was the largest facade retantion in Europe), but showing its age now.
The amount of time that has passed also enables an unscrupulous developer to "lose" all those surveys telling him about the scale of contamination of the site rendering parts of it unfit for housing...
I'd hate to hazard a guess at the tonnage of asbestos strip(ped):eek:
cybertect
07-08-2006, 09:40
One thing I have wondered recently, noticing the absolutely phenomenal amount of so-called "luxury" flats built in the last seven or so years
I think just about every property developer in the non-HA sector slaps the 'luxury' tag on everything they build. It's been going on for the last 20 years to my knowledge.
When I was studying architecture in the late 1980s, my Building Economics lecturer had a notion that the word 'luxury' when applied to dwellings would become so abused that it would actually be an insult within half a century :)
cybertect
07-08-2006, 09:48
They should have used it to house the British Library instead of the red brick monstrosity in St Pancras.
Way too late.
While it was only formally opened in 1998, planning and design of the British Library started in the 1974 with a funding crisis under Thatcher in 1988 helping things out.
I must admit to rather liking it.
ska invita
14-10-2006, 14:55
Last chance to see Battersea Power Station before the redevelopment - pay a fiver for the chinese art show and check out the real work of art!
http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2006/08/china_power_station_part_i_8_o_1.html
Supposedly Due to popular demand, pre booking is essential to ensure entry - might be a blag though.
lang rabbie
14-10-2006, 16:12
Photography is not permitted
which I suspect has little to do with copyright/intellectual property in the Chinese art works and relates a lot more to the property owners' concern that every second visitor will be a tweed clad conservationist fogey (not unlike myself;) ) wanting photographic evidence of the scandalous decline of the building and the failure of Wandsworth Council to take enforcement action against Parkview and the subsequent developers.
Last chance to see Battersea Power Station before the redevelopment - pay a fiver for the chinese art show and check out the real work of art!
http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2006/08/china_power_station_part_i_8_o_1.html
Supposedly Due to popular demand, pre booking is essential to ensure entry - might be a blag though.
Definitely want to go to this! Thanks for the link. If I do go I'll report back.
ska invita
15-10-2006, 20:16
which I suspect has little to do with copyright/intellectual property in the Chinese art works and relates a lot more to the property owners' concern that every second visitor will be a tweed clad conservationist fogey (not unlike myself;) ) wanting photographic evidence of the scandalous decline of the building and the failure of Wandsworth Council to take enforcement action against Parkview and the subsequent developers.
Just got back today - you are allowed to take photos of the building, but not the art.
It was great going inside there - fantastic ghost of a building - really suited to the Chinese art work - if you've ever been to a communist country you'll get the link well.
I cant help but feel that the redevelopment of the Station is going to be a money-pit/white elephant. When you see what state it is in, and how hard its going to be to save what remains... no easy task.
Does anyoen know how it got be in the state it is in now? Its clearly been gutted - how come they stopped at the stage it is at now?
P>S> one oft he exhibits is thousands of apples rotting - worth going towards the end of the run (NOV) when teh apples will really be mush!
Oh, and it was no problem not having pre-booked, even on a sunny sunday, although everyoen had to queue for about half and hour.
arronsmith
20-10-2006, 19:51
I went to visit today - really cool to see it. Cost me a fiver, but a fiver well spent.
Shitty cameraphone pictures at www.arronsmith.co.uk/pickers/battersea , if anyone is /really/ that interested.
Sadly, they don't let you anywhere near the switchgear, some of which is still present according to one of the people working there.
Didn't think much of the art, but that wasn't why I went, and it doesn't get in the way of the power station at all (because you'd need a /lot/ of art to do that). The architecture is amazing. Some really ornate little balconys dotted around, which surprised me.
They even give you bikes to ride around on.
Well worth the fiver.
As an aside, those who enjoyed this would probably appreciate The Wapping Project (Hydraulic Power station (back in the day, high pressure water mains used to power industrial equipment/lifts etc in London, this was one of the pumping station)). It's now a trendy bar/art gallery, but they've left a lot of the big old machinery there.
Sadly, they don't let you anywhere near the switchgear, some of which is still present according to one of the people working there.
Rats, that's a real shame, we saw the control room when it was open years ago during the so-called consultation before they trashed it. Absolutely fantastic.
I'm hoping to get there tomorrow, what are the queues like?
arronsmith
21-10-2006, 10:16
I booked on 'tinternet. http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user?query=search®ion=xxx&category=misc&search=china%20power%20station&interface=chinapowerstation&REFID=chinatimeout
However, there were no queues for the people that hadn't as far as I could make out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/uk_battersea_power_station/html/6.stm - the control room in better days. Bad ass.
TorchSong
21-10-2006, 14:36
I say bring back the pig. :cool:
Went to this on Sunday, as I think it may be the last chance to see inside the Power Station before it becomes a huge building site/accessible only to nobs with money/demolished (delete depending on degree of cynicism).
IMHO the art isn't really worth seeing unless you have a penchant for obscure video installations. It is worth the six quid to see inside the Power Station, though it is now well & truly gutted & derelict (or at least all the bits that were open were). :(
Niksativa, it got to be in this state because it was acquired in the mid-80s by a property developer who started work on it then went bust (AFAIK). It has been acquired for development again by another property company, earmarked for luxury flats, hotels, retail etc.
I met this guy the other day that works for a charity called 20th Century Society. Set up to defend building built in the, surprisingly, in the 20th Century.
He was saying that the land had been acquired by a Chinese developer called Wang. Its a 1.5 billion development.
They had challenged his planning application because his structural engineers had said that the chimneys had to come down and they saw that that might be a sneeky way to get rid of them.
The base of the chimneys have concrete cancer. So they have got him to agree to take two down and repair the base and he cannot take any more down until he has put one back. Its going to cost 100 million quid to repair them. Work is due in January.
http://www.riskybuildings.org.uk/docs/13battersea/index.html
If they fuck that up, they will have spoilt London's most recognisable landmarks.
DeadManWalking
31-10-2006, 14:56
All set to go there this afternoon with my camera, not only has the sun gone in but it's only open Thurs to Sunday
behemoth
31-10-2006, 20:03
Sometimes buildings outlive their usefulness.
Pull it down and build some affordable low rise housing.
I think it is an ugly monstrosity.
The base of the chimneys have concrete cancer. So they have got him to agree to take two down and repair the base and he cannot take any more down until he has put one back. Its going to cost 100 million quid to repair them. Work is due in January.
.
That is an awful lot of money to spend. I love old buildings, and old houses, but 100 million for a chimney that isn't going to be used? :eek:
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