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Monday February 20, 2012

Iconic London power station faces uncertainties


LONDON: With its four white chimneys and solid brick base, Battersea Power Station is London's most iconic industrial building. But 30 years after closing down, it still eludes efforts to give it a future.

There has been no shortage of ideas or candidates to renovate the building, which was erected in 1933 on the south bank of the River Thames and immortalised on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals.

But whether the aim was to create a commercial centre or a leisure park, every grand plan has collapsed, usually in a sea of debt.

Irish developers REO were the latest to try their luck with a US$5.5bil project to turn the former coal-fired power station into shops, office space and leisure facilities.

Bleak future: Battersea Power Station in London. Whether the aim is to create a commercial centre or a leisure park, every grand plan to renovate the building has collapsed, usually in a sea of debt. — AFP

They went into administration in December, owing debts of US$324mil, leaving Battersea standing once again as a symbol of London's industrial past and a rare bulwark against the relentless development of the British capital.

Some Londoners think the building's time has now come.

“Knock it down!” said Stephen Bayley, one of the founders of the Design Museum, which once considered moving into the decommissioned power station.

“I live close by and, of course, I enjoy Battersea Power Station's strange, melancholy presence. But cities have to evolve and change, otherwise they are dead.”

He condemned the “misguided and misdirected nostalgia” of those who wanted to keep it standing for history's sake, telling AFP: “The brutal fact is no-one can afford to restore Battersea Power Station.

“It is one of the biggest brick structures in the world and is in terrible condition: every joint needs to be re-pointed.”

The land around Europe's largest brick building is also polluted and would require expensive decontamination work to make it habitable.

Battersea was built by the architect Giles Gilbert Scott, the man behind Britain's famous red telephone boxes and Bankside, another London power station which was reincarnated as the hugely popular Tate Modern gallery.

Battersea's chimneys resemble antique columns, while inside are fine examples of art deco design, including a hall with walls of Italian marble.

Paddy Pugh, a planning director at conservation body English Heritage, is horrified at suggestions that it should be destroyed.

“Battersea Power Station is such a powerful architectural symbol in London that it's almost inconceivable that it would be demolished,” he said.

Despite the work required, Pugh argues it is a “strong, robust building” and can be brought back into use, whether as a commercial centre, flats or a leisure park.

Even top English Premier League football club Chelsea has expressed an interest in acquiring the site.

Pugh notes that Battersea, the area around the power station, is also becoming more attractive.

Sitting across the river from the wealthy Chelsea district, it will soon be home to the new US embassy and there are plans to extend the Underground train network. - AFP

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