One day, maybe, Battersea Power Station will be reborn. It's had several false starts over the last few years, several developers who said "hey, we have this great idea for the place..." then went bust, or lost interest, or faded away. The latest bunch, a Malaysian consortium, are proving hardier souls. They've got to the planning stage, the accommodation brochure stage, the Prime Ministerial launch stage and the Northern line extension stage. Their plans propose a major mixed use development encompassing the power station and the expanse of land surrounding it, completed in stages over the next twelve years or so. There'll be luxury apartments, shopping malls, office space and yet more luxury apartments, just as you'd expect. Or maybe there won't.
Another round of planning consultation kicked off last week. It had a decent amount of publicity, so you might have noticed, indeed you might even have been along. The owners set up an exhibition in a posh prefab on site and invited the public inside to have their say. Access was via a derelict-looking lane on the Nine Elms riverside, nowhere you'd think of going by accident, where a poster announced the exhibition within. I had to ask the security guard if I was in the right place, because it didn't look promising. He invited me to walk through a gate I'd assumed was locked, then pointed down a run of metal barriers to the main exhibition. It was a smart affair.
On entry a member of staff wanted your name and address, holding out a piece of lined paper with an insistent smile. And then there was quite a lot to see. A complete history of the power station, on nicely produced boards - nothing controversial whatsoever. A properly-old scale model of the power station, which looked like it dated back to the Central Electricity Generating Board. Several boards outlining the proposed development scheme, differentiated by being black on white not white on black. Proposals to demolish the crumbling chimneys and replace them, starting imminently, then adding a lift to a viewing platform at the top of one. And another scale model showing New Battersea Power Station surrounded by curved perspex blocks, clustered on three sides in a rather dense manner. Everything you'd expect really.
Plans are for the Grade I listed power station to have at least three main uses. There'll be a lot of offices in the centre, with a whopping great atrium leading up to a glass roof way above. There'll be high level apartments, the most expensive on the site for those who can afford to live in the actual landmark building. And there'll be shopping malls, two in total, contained accessed via Turbine Hall A and Turbine Hall B. One will be highbrow prestige brands, a bit like a covered version of Bond Street, while the other will feature shops a smidgeon lower down the retail ladder. And it was the artist's impressions of these malls that made me silently weep. They showed a central atrium with shops and balconies and staircases that could have been any major shopping mall anywhere, say Lakeside or Westfield, the very epitome of nothing special. Sure, the bricks and tiles of the great building were still present, and closer inspection revealed soaring walls and windows. But something in the anodyne presentation suggested that the star presence here would be the shops, not the architecture, in faceless pastel tones.
It became apparent partway round that the lady standing next to me was a future tenant. She'd already reserved an apartment in Phase One of the development - that's Circus West, a steel and glass block due shortly to block out views of the power station from the adjacent railway. She was here to check out plans for her local shops, restaurants and cinemas, a completely different point of view to mine. So I was pleased to get the opportunity at the end of the exhibition, when a polite woman dished out questionnaires on clipboards, to offer up an equal voice. "I like the proposal..." "I welcome the variety of uses..." "I support the new plans to regenerate the Power Station building." I ticked 'strongly disagree' for the latter, as you'd anticipate.
And then, once our opinions had been collected, we were allowed outside to view the power station itself. A long line of metal barriers snaked across a vast expanse of nothingness - these 39 acres the true prize for the developers. A stream of Heathrow-bound planes flew almost directly overhead - something you won't read about in the glossy brochures for potential tenants. It was a long walk, but that was great because there was the opportunity to view the chimneys from far away to almost directly underneath. Back in September for Open House the queues to get inside ran round the block, thousands strong. When I visited midweek there were no more than half a dozen of us, and most of those on the walk back, which gave a wholly different (and rather marvellous) experience.
I stood at the entrance to Turbine Hall B and stared, in awe of this vast electric cathedral. A barrier prevented deeper ingress, but to stand within was enough. To one side a row of part-decayed columns allowed view of the central generating space, entirely roofless, where those lucky office workers are going to go. Ahead was a long atrium with lofty roof, a net cast across to catch falling debris. Occasionally a pigeon flapped across from one side to the other, at would-be penthouse level, oh so high above. I tried to picture this as a shopping mall and it was disturbingly easy, with each of the gaps between pillars transforming into showy plate glass windows. And yet it struck me how almost nothing had changed since I was last here in 2006, save a little more dilapidation and yet another change of ownership.
When my one fellow visitor departed, and the security guard wandered off, I suddenly had the entire building to myself. It was a wonderful sensation, both humbling and rare, and I felt very privileged to be here. If the developers get their way this site will never be so empty again, what with shoppers and office workers and long-term residents and security everywhere. It seems the price of saving Gilbert Scott's creation is to transform it utterly, as a generator of wealth rather than of awe. As if to prove the point, my five minutes of silence was ended when a businessman wandered in, jabbering into his mobile phone and trailing a suitcase behind him. He saw Battersea Power Station for what it could be, and I saw it for what it was. We left together, both smiling for entirely different reasons.
The public exhibition closed on Sunday, sorry, so you'll not be following me inside. Detailed plans were supposed to go online yesterday, but I've looked and I can't find them on the site [Thursday update: they're here]. But the Public Exhibition Questionnaire is fully accessible, in case you have any thoughts on the future of Battersea Power station and care to share. This latest scheme might be the most likely yet to succeed, but as past decades have proven, change here is never guaranteed.
JUBILEE: 5 things I found outside this station
I've devoted a month to the Jubilee line before. It was May 2004, the line's 25th anniversary, when I ran a station-by-station feature entitled Silver Jubilee. I visited every station, wrote about each of them in turn, and took pictures too. One part of this mammoth chronicling was a section entitled 5 things I found outside this station, which I thought I'd repeat nearly ten years later to see what's changed. The original lists are in the first column, using red text for anything that's no longer there. And my updated lists are in the second column, using green text for anything that definitely wasn't there last time. Think of it as an urban history project. A lot's changed.
5 things I found outside this station...
May 2004
November 2013
Stanmore
a small green stall selling flowers, some slatted wooden benches, a pedestrian crossing, a big tube sign on a blue pillar, the Green Belt (the line stops right on the edge of London - a few hundred metres further on and you're in the countryside)
Esquire's Barbers, Express Stop (a very mini newsagent), a dispenser containing free copies of Jewish News, Accident Advice House (part of the Stanmore Business Centre), a grumpy fat man swearing hoarsely into his phone
Canons Park
a very short green cycle path, Canons Park Motors (operating from three arches underneath the station), Eddy's kebab shop, Hearts & Flowers florists, the number 79 bus.
four very short green cycle paths, Canons Perk (coffee and snack bar), Cannons Tandoori (blatantly misspelt), the Fountain Park estate, a Barnardo's bin
Queensbury
Queensbury Circus, Hunter & Hunter estate agents, some bicycles chained to the railings, Joe's Bake & Bite, three levels of flats built above the station entrance
Queens Internet cafe, a new bike rack, a mega Morrisons, Hair Magic, a greengrocer stall selling fruit and veg at £1 per bowl
Kingsbury
a sign saying 'humps for 350 yards', a lot of local shops, a machine selling parking tickets, Jyoti Jewellers, a yellow box junction
Sahara Lounge II, a security camera on a tall pole, National Halal Centre, Mepani News, a drinking control area (maximum penalty £500)
Wembley Park
a pelican crossing, that huge extra entrance/exit for use on days when there's a big event nearby, the College of Northwest London, Olympic Way, a big sign pointing towards 'Stadium tours' (unlikely at present)
Wembley Stadium (rebuilt, with arch), Victoria Hall Student Living (skyrise silver shoeboxes), a new huge station entrance/exit, the Ark Academy, Olympic Square (except no, it's more sort-of curved)
Neasden
a pelican crossing, two giant billboards, Falcon Park RNIB centre, Adrian's Newsagent (a tiny kiosk), a pedestrian sign pointing towards 'Neasden Temple & Superstore' (I hope that's two different places)
Cafe Dori, City Plumbing Supplies, a blue bobbly standalone National Lottery sign, a big empty warehouse to let (which may have been the RNIB centre), a sign pointing to 'Magistrates Court'
Dollis Hill
the 'Dollis Hill' mural, belisha beacons, a big tube sign on a brick column, wide avenues of suburban semis, a parade of shops
Dollis Hill Garage, standalone cash machine (£1.75 to withdraw), Liberty Food & Wine, 'Kitten Found' poster, mini-roundabout
Willesden Green
a yellow plastic box full of grit, Camerons Stiff estate agents (giggle), 10 piles of free magazines (mostly expat related), Dynamic dry cleaners, lots of laminated Wanted For Murder police posters
six smart flower boxes (still flowering), City AM newspaper box, Willesden Green Town Team noticeboard (mostly empty), a big bike rack (full), a shakes & smoothie shop (closed, about to become a barbers)
Kilburn
a double viaduct painted blue, Shoot Up Hill (actually the A5 Watling Street), an old postbox, Kilburn Flowers, a dry cleaners that sells records.
Dutch & Dutch fruit & veg stall, Kilburn Confectionery, three bridges, a sign pointing to Brondesbury station, the Kilburn Mural 2004 (painted by Snug, Dane, Bleach, Busk, Tizer and Asset)
West Hampstead
long queues for tickets, Mr Gingham's sandwich bar (sliced egg, £1.30), The Flower Gallery, the smell of bacon, a big green Camden 'Trade Waste' bin.
Sorry Position Closed, Mr Gingham's sandwich bar (sliced egg, £1.50), North West 6 (gift shop), The Railway (pub & Costa), a streetcleaner eyeing me suspiciously
Finchley Road
the 02 shopping centre (a very modern mall complete with fishtanks and jungle-themed escalators), George's Shoe Repairs, the A41, Waitrose, a mysterious old wooden door labelled 'Meakers'
British College of Osteopathic Medicine, expensive florist stall (bouquets in multiples of £5), Canfield House, Evening Standard lock-up (white), Holy Trinity church (plus Alpha Course)
Swiss Cottage
five station exits via subways, a dead busy road junction on the Finchley Road, Ye Olde Swiss Cottage (a chalet-style pub, built in 1840 beside the old Junction Road tollgate, now complete with exhaust fume soaked beer garden), Fujifilm House, an old Odeon cinema
Hampstead Theatre (House Full), Eton Avenue Farmers Market (late in the day, so absolutely no customers), Overground House, Star Box Coffee (a small kiosk with hygiene rating 4), Swiss Cottage Library
St John's Wood
a circular ticket hall with high glass windows, seven floors of flats built above the station, a shrubbery complete with palm trees, the Abbey Road Café (it's tiny, but it has an informative website), hordes of Inter-Railers clutching Multimap printouts trying to work out where 'that' recording studo is.
Acacia Road, a newspaper kiosk sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, a Countdown crossing, the Beatles Coffee Shop (it's tiny, but it has an informative website), hordes of foreign tourists consulting the Legible London map (which doesn't mark the terribly famous nearby zebra crossing)
Baker Street
hundreds of tourists buying tacky souvenirs and pizzas, long queues for sightseeing buses, a statue of Sherlock Holmes, Transport for London's Lost Property Office (it's amazing what people lose), the big green copper dome of the London Planetarium (opened 1958)
M&S Food To Go, long queues for the Sherlock Holmes Museum, Belgian Waffles, The Metropolitan Bar (formerly the Chiltern Court restaurant), the big green copper dome of the Marvel Super Heroes 4D film experience (it's an absolute travesty, sigh)
Bond Street
bustling Oxford Street, the West One shopping centre, bureaux de change, loads of people, this view.
a hole where Crossrail will be, Forever 21, Delicious Crêpes, a park-up spot for pedicabs, lots of yellow Selfridges bags
Green Park
the grinning lady who blocks the station exit trying to hand out free magazines, the smiley bloke who sells me my Evening Standard, Piccadilly, the Benjy's where I often buy lunch, a surprisingly high proportion of posh men wearing bow ties and dinner jackets
an Audi showroom, a Big Bus Tours driver on his break (yelling into his mobile), the new leafy chasm exit direct into Green Park, Langan's Brasserie, Sea Strata (a Portland stone artwork by John Maine)
Westminster
Big Ben (OK, St Stephen's Tower), the Houses of Parliament, Portcullis House, the River Thames, tight security
Big Ben (OK, the Elizabeth Tower), the 'secret' underground entrance to Parliament, Tesco Express, three groups of three Jehovah's Witnesses handing out 'Awake' magazine, St Stephen's Tavern
Waterloo
Waterloo mainline station, Waterloo Eurostar station, a giant illuminated elephant's head at the top of an escalator, an IMAX cinema, homeless people
famously fresh baguettes, Bank Machine Welcomes You To London Waterloo, Fishcotheque, the Wellington, foreign students sat down on the floor chatting
Southwark
a circular entrance lobby lit by a central glass drum, Waterloo East station (via dedicated exit), Blackfriars Road, a building site dominated by a towering blue crane (any buyers for a new glassy office building?), The Ring public house
Palestra (a glassy office building, where TfL lives), snacklite, Rowland Hill House, 15 150th anniversary Art on the Underground posters, the former Blackfriars station
London Bridge
London Bridge, the London Dungeon, Borough Market (selling posh organic food for Observer readers), Southwark Cathedral, Guy's Hospital
the Shard, a new bus station, Sam Souviners (sic), the Shangri-La Hotel (opens Q4 2014), a temporary ticket office
Bermondsey
Jamaica Road, an electronic display welcoming you to Bermondsey station, two cashpoints, Feltor Carrington estate agents, densely-packed council blocks
sign to Bermondsey Square Antiques Market, dual carriageway, Local Express, Jimmy's & Son Barber Shop (est 1970), an old soldier selling poppies
Canada Water
a big round glass drum, a bus station, large tracts of open space awaiting redevelopment, Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, Canada Water (complete with bird raft and wind turbine)
Canada Water Library (est 2012), the Maple Quays Sales and Marketing Suite, maple trees, Mousetail coffee cart, a private gym for residents of the adjacent development
Canary Wharf
Docklands, One Canada Square (Britain's tallest building), a sculpted head lying on its side, Jubilee Place shopping centre beneath Jubilee Park, four clocks on poles
a rack of Boris Bikes, bankers, an advert for St Peter's Barge (London's only floating church), a row of international cuisine kiosks, Montgomery Square
North Greenwich
a carelessly-discarded Dome, WH Smiths, a bus station in the middle of nowhere, a 1000-space car park, Group 4 security
Classico Expresso, a world class 'entertainment district', thousands of people rich enough to watch tennis, the London Diner, windswept Millennium Square
Canning Town
a big flyover on the A13, an MFI superstore, a teeming bus station, Purvi newsagents, a large stone memorial commemorating the nearby Thames Ironworks (HMS Warrior was built here in 1860)
Terry Spinks Place (under the flyover), the place, Matchday route to West Ham, the Bow Creek exit (no public access), flyers for Poverty Kickz (Charity Dance Workshop)
West Ham
Ibstock bricks and small glass squares, Costcutter Express, a mini-roundabout, Memorial Avenue, a chippy under new management (shame, because the old management served right tasty cod)
a superloo (10p fee), the Rial Lifestyle Cafe (recommended), DLR roundel, regular courtesy minibus to West Ham Bus Garage (invariably empty), a lady humming in the bus shelter
Stratford
Meridian Square, a big bus station, a purple steam engine called Robert, scores of people, my local shopping centre
my new local shopping centre, Deano's Continental Hot Food, obscuring fish scale sculptures, a zigzag row of security bollards, Stratford Plaza (all now sold)
One day, maybe, Battersea Power Station will be reborn. It's had several false starts over the last few years, several developers who said "hey, we have this great idea for the place..." then went bust, or lost interest, or faded away. The latest bunch, a Malaysian consortium, are proving hardier souls. They've got to the planning stage, the accommodation brochure stage, the Prime Ministerial launch stage and the Northern line extension stage. Their plans propose a major mixed use development encompassing the power station and the expanse of land surrounding it, completed in stages over the next twelve years or so. There'll be luxury apartments, shopping malls, office space and yet more luxury apartments, just as you'd expect. Or maybe there won't.
Plans are for the Grade I listed power station to have at least three main uses. There'll be a lot of offices in the centre, with a whopping great atrium leading up to a glass roof way above. There'll be high level apartments, the most expensive on the site for those who can afford to live in the actual landmark building. And there'll be shopping malls, two in total, contained accessed via Turbine Hall A and Turbine Hall B. One will be highbrow prestige brands, a bit like a covered version of Bond Street, while the other will feature shops a smidgeon lower down the retail ladder. And it was the artist's impressions of these malls that made me silently weep. They showed a central atrium with shops and balconies and staircases that could have been any major shopping mall anywhere, say Lakeside or Westfield, the very epitome of nothing special. Sure, the bricks and tiles of the great building were still present, and closer inspection revealed soaring walls and windows. But something in the anodyne presentation suggested that the star presence here would be the shops, not the architecture, in faceless pastel tones.
