Designs for Battersea scrapped again
The £4bn eco-dome designs for the Battersea Power Station in London are being re-considered after various consultations found the scheme to impede on world heritage views of the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
Real Estate Opportunities – which has a 67 per cent stake in the site's owner Treasury Holdings – appointed New York-based architect Rafael Viñoly to design the masterplan in April 2008. The design was based on a dome with a 250m-high glass tower – reduced from its original 300m height in December – and would have been carbon-neutral. Prior to objections from Wandsworth Borough Council, the mayor of London and English Heritage, plans for the 38-acre development also includes 8 million sq ft (743,200sq m) of residential (including hotels), office and retail space, as well as 500,000sq ft (46,400sq m) of leisure and cultural space. There was also to be a six-acre public park and an urban square.
It is understood that the new proposals, which are part of the ongoing masterplanning, will significantly reduce the amount of residential and commercial space. The existing Battersea building was also set to undergo a £150m facelift, with key historic spaces retained and opened to the public.
The disused, Grade II-listed building has been the subject of redevelopment schemes since 1984, but none of the plans have come to fruition. REO still intends to start construction in 2012 with the view of completing the scheme by 2020.