BATTERSEA POWER STATION

A RENEWED ENERGY

In 2008 tothepoint worked with Treasury Holdings, a property company that bought Battersea Power Station in December 2006. We had the rare opportunity to commission a photo shoot at the site to capture the decay the building has suffered and to see the foundation work that was being undertaken to bring it back to life.

All photography is courtesy of Matt Liveymattlivey.com

Latitude: 51° 29’ 15.576” NLongitude: 0° 8’ 46.828” WAltitude: 162 m (531 ft)

A FLAMING ALTAR OF MODERN POWER

Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for the London Power Company (LPC), the construction of Battersea Power Station began in 1928. The project was not without controversy, there was uproar that a power station should be built in the heart of London where it was feared that the sulphur emissions would damage famous buildings, parks, works of art and endanger the health of Londoners. In answer to these fears the LPC pioneered a gas-washing system that removed more than 90 per cent of the sulphur from the chimney gases. Envisaged as a project of two halves the first two chimneys of the ‘A’ station started generating in 1933 with glowing tributes, one newspaper reporting it to be ‘a flaming altar of modern power’.

BPS stayed continuously ahead of its time with technology. The first two 69MW generating sets were large for their time but even before they came into operation the LPC had ordered a huge 105MW set – the largest in Europe. In 1953 Battersea proudly achieved a world record for thermal efficiency which greatly reduced the amount of fuel required, in turn saving production costs.

DARK DAYS MADE LIGHT

By 1941 station ‘B’ was up and running and the plant was complete, a remarkable achievement in the conditions that the war had bought, with a shortage of labour and materials. Battersea was luckier than some of its neighbours during the blitz although it didn’t escape damage and at times operations were kept going through sheer ingenuity and determination. Londoners had taken Battersea to their hearts and it became somewhat of a symbol of the spirit of Londoners. In 1939 a celebrity poll showed that BPS was the second favourite building.

1925 1935 1945 1955 1965

1928Construction starts despite furious opposition by public figures such as the Archbishop of Canterbury

1933Station ‘A’ starts generating electricity

1948Electricity supply in the UK industry is nationalised

1939A survey of celebrities vote Battersea their second favourite building in UK

1964A fire breaks out at the station, causing power failures throughout London, most notably at the BBC Television Centre, which is forced to delay the scheduled launch of BBC2 until the following day at 11am

1941Second station ‘B’ opened 12 months behind schedule

1965BPS appears in the Beatles’ Help! movie as ‘a famous power station’

1935Battersea achieves world record thermal efficiency followed by construction of station ‘B’

1953Construction of site complete. BPS is now the largest brick building in Europe and the iconic four chimney silhouette is born

1975 1985 1995 2005 2015

1975Station ‘A’ is shut down

1984Redesign of the site is won by a consortium including Alton Towers Ltd to turn the site into a theme park. The scheme was approved two years later

2006Real Estate Opportunities (REO), owned by Treasury Holdings, buy BPS for £400m and scrap plans set out by Parkview

1980Michael Hesseltine, the Secretary of State for the Environment, lists Battersea as a national heritage site

1993Development company Parkview International purchases outstanding loans and acquires the freehold three years later

2012Construction due to start for the 38 acre site with completion due to finish by 2020

1983BPS ceases electricity generation and is closed down

2003Parkview receives possession of the site and starts on a £1.1bn project to redevelop the site into a vast retail, housing and leisure complex

1977Battersea is pictured on the front of Pink Floyd’s album Animals

1989Theme park project halted due to lack of funding; huge holes are left in the roof where machinery was removed

2008Restoration of BPS begins and the first masterplan unveiled

An enormous backlog of repair and maintenance was required after the war and times were difficult as the demand for electricity became greater than generating capacity. The LPC took this opportunity of post-war reconstruction to introduce another innovation, the first of its kind – a District Heating Scheme which provided the population of Pimlico with heating and domestic water.

Battersea exceeded its original target of 400MW and was generating a huge 509MW, burning 10,000 tons of coal per week – and all this with a design concept that stood the test of time being 30 years old.

STANDING THE TEST OF TIME

THE STORY OF THE UGLY DUCKLING

When predictions of the final closure of the station were being circulated in 1980 Londoners pulled together to campaign to save the famous landmark. As one newspaper reported, this was an ‘ugly duckling that had turned into a swan’ and people had really taken the building to their hearts.

Later that year Michael Hesseltine, as Secretary of State for the Environment, ensured that adequate time be allowed to consider the future of the site by listing it as ‘a building of special architectural or historical interest’.

Several schemes have come and gone along the way, the latest being an evolutionary vision from Treasury Holdings. Bought in December 2006 for the sum of £400 million, their scheme not only preserves the integrity of the original building, but also hopes to create the most advanced, sustainable regeneration project ever undertaken in the UK. Power will, hopefully, once again be restored to Battersea.

Alongside the preservation of the building there is also currently a huge conservation project underway to ensure that the wildlife that has made Battersea its home over the past 25 years is cared for.

Produced by tothepointPhotography by Matt Livey (www.mattlivey.com)Battersea Power Station 2008