Power to the people

Designed by WilkinsonEyre 

From the architects:

Introduction

London’s largest regeneration project has opened its doors to the public.

Originally designed by the UK’s renowned architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Battersea Power Station historically provided one fifth of London’s electricity – supplying some of the capital’s most recognisable landmarks before being decommissioned in 1983.

The project has seen WilkinsonEyre and Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC) work together to sensitively restore and adapt the Grade II listed structure’s triumphant former industrial spaces, to create a new mixed-use neighbourhood for London, conserving and enhancing the iconic building’s heritage features.

The opening marks the culmination of almost a decade of intensive work to restore the globally recognised landmark, with WilkinsonEyre leading the design, through concept, detail and delivery, for this bold reimagining of one of the world’s most famous buildings. 

It follows a series of phased completions, including the opening of the first residential apartments in 2021.

Amenities

• The newly restored Battersea Power Station features over 100 shops, restaurants and cafes, events venues, new office space and 254 new apartments, plus Lift 109, a unique chimney lift experience offering 360-degree panoramic views of the London skyline.
• The project forms the cornerstone of a substantial regeneration project representing one of London’s largest and most visionary new riverside neighbourhoods, offering a vibrant community of homes, shops, restaurants, offices, culture and leisure venues, as well as 7.6 hectares of public space – all serviced by an extension to the London Underground Northern Line.

The restoration

• WilkinsonEyre’s extensive yet sympathetic restoration introduces a contemporary feel to the industrial heritage of the building, while respectfully enhancing its historical features, and retaining its sense of scale and visual drama.
• The restoration creates a new state-of-the-art events space, along with shops, restaurants and cafés, large open-plan office spaces, and a series of Sky Villas positioned around a garden square above the Boiler House, and to either side of the Power Station.
• The chimneys (which were rebuilt between 2014 - 2017 using the original construction method employed when they were first built in the 1930s and 1950s) and unobstructed Turbine Halls, remain the dominant features of the building, while other major design features include a full-height glass void behind the southern wall, and a vast central atrium.

• While the restoration of Turbine Hall A retains the Art Deco feel of when it was first built in the1930s, Turbine Hall B (which dates back to the 1950s) has a more minimalist aesthetic.
• Turbine Hall A’s internal fenestration is complemented by bespoke balustraded galleries, and bridges now animate the large volume, which is filled with natural light from carefully restored skylights above.
• The two Turbine Halls will house an array of carefully curated brands from around the world and this is the first time both halls will be open to the public.
• The Power Station’s two Control Rooms, which managed the distribution of power from Carnaby Street to Wimbledon – even powering Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament – have also been meticulously restored.
• Control Room A is set to become a unique events space and Control Room B has been transformed into an exciting new all-day bar concept, where patrons will be able to get up close and personal with the Control Room’s original dials and controls.

• In the Boiler House, two spectacular entrance atria will greet visitors arriving from the north and south while new roof lights reveal the iconic chimneys from below.
• The project also comprises Switch House West, completed in 2021, and Switch House East, completed earlier this year, which were once home to the Power Station’s main switch gear, laboratory, battery and assembly rooms, and have now been respectfully restored into apartments.
• Throughout the project, there is a purposeful juxtaposition of brick with glass, and historic ceramic tile with contemporary steel.
• Approximately 1.8 million bricks were sourced from the original brickmakers, Northcot Bricks in Gloucestershire and Blockleys in Shropshire, to repair the Power Station’s walls, and new homes feature brick and steelwork from the 1930s and 1950s.
• Bold new structural interventions include bow string trusses holding up the original south entrance wall.
• The roofs of all main volumes now have fully planted gardens, and the surrounding area of former coal yards and railway sidings has been reinvented as a new park and public space for Londoners to visit, shop and spend time in.

Sebastien Ricard, director at WilkinsonEyre: “It has been a privilege to restore and transform this iconic building, not only saving and celebrating the original features but creating interventions which bring the structure alive again. 

"I’m excited that these incredible volumes – the Turbine Halls and Boiler House – will, for the first time, be open to all. 

"We’ve taken great inspiration from Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in everything from the drama and scale right through to individual material choices and I hope this is reflected in the experience of residents and visitors"

Designed by: WilkinsonEyre

Story by: Trendsideas

Photography by: Brendan Bell, Peter Landers, John Sturrock, Hufton + Crow,