The Battersea Power Station was the UK’s largest power station. It was closed in 1986 and meanwhile became a national monument to be defended, thanks to its four white chimneys standing at the corners of the building and to its prevalently art deco style, typical of the years in which it was built.
Two years ago, a consortium of Malaysian investors, led by CIMB, Maybank and Standard Chartered Bank, managed to acquire the site and founded the Battersea Power Station Development Company. This marked the beginning of the largest ever construction site set up in central London, at a total cost of the entire operation estimated at about 8 billion pounds. The project includes: homes for at least 25,000 people, offices for 15 thousand and 40 million visitors every year, three hotels, 60 restaurants and 250 shops, a library extending over 1,400 square metres, a roof garden and a public park, plus one of the four towers open to the public to observe the city from above, a view, for the time being, second only to the Shard. The Battersea Power Station is expected to produce another type of energy: almost 1 billion pounds a year that will power the UK economy over the next 20 years.
The project aims at converting an industrial site into a luxury residential area. Battersea Power Station will reopen its doors to the public from 2019, for the first time after 30 years, with 17,000 new jobs and a contribution to the British economy of £ 1 billion a year in its first 20 years.
