Treasury Holdings Northern Line Battersea Extension Plans
As we have mentioned here on the Spectacle blog previously; owners of Battersea Power Station, REO (Real Estate Opportunities), have some illustrious plans to bring the Northern line to the Power Station. The project has received support from the mayor’s office but no public money is being put towards it from either the mayor’s office or the Department of Transport. This extension would serve to sever the two branches of the Northern Line so that only Bank services would travel to Morden and Charing Cross services would end in Battersea. As it is very few Charing Cross branch trains travel past Kennington. Far from benefiting the local community, this extension is effectively an attempt to build a private station for a private development with little to no concern for the local people.
In typical architectural consultation manner, they’ve produced 4 proposals and asked people to choose which one they believe will be the most beneficial. One of these maps is reproduced below and they can also be found over at London Reconnections along with some other useful information about the extension plans.
As can be observed on the below map taken from OpenStreetMap, REO’s consultation map conveniently crops Victoria station and forgets to label Queenstown Road and Battersea Park stations. The South London Line which runs from Victoria and London Bridge passes through Battersea Park station thus the Power Station site is already connected to these two major stations. Additionally Queenstown Road station, five minutes walk from the Power Station site, is one stop away from Vauxhall Station. With these two connections to major stations very nearby, surely extending the tube to the area is a bit over the top? Tunneling is not a cheap process after all.
Another proposal suggests extending the Northern Line to Vauxhall en route to the new Battersea station, but as we mentioned, Vauxhall is already easily reachable from Queenstown Road station and is in fact actually quite a crowded station already. The other two proposals suggest an intermediary station in Nine Elms, either around New Covent Garden Market or at the site of the current Sainsburys. The intention here is to serve the Nine Elms opportunity area and the new planned US Embassy (allegedly their 12 storey embassy building requires some underground facilities). However a few more buses in the area could easily serve this purpose or even a small tram service which would be far cheaper than costly tunneling. Besides, Vauxhall is really only a short walk away.
The consultation has included a Freepost Questionnaire for anyone who would like to inform Treasury/REO how they feel about the proposals. It is also worth considering that Treasury Holdings are conducting the consultation themselves and likely have no obligation to share the results. Either way, how would the public know that any published results of the consultation would match up with the actual results?
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Battersea Power Station Community Group’s Objection letter
Below is Battersea Power Station Community Group’s objection to the planning applications.
You might find this useful reference when making your objections. The deadline for objections is 31 January. Please try and register your objection.
Battersea Power Station Community Group
16 DRCA Charlotte Despard Avenue
London SW11 5HD
Mr Bob Leuty
Planning Department
Wandsworth Town Hall
High Street
London SW18 2PU
26th January 2010
You Ref: 2009/3575/3576/3578
Dear Mr Leuty
I am writing to add comments to my original objection about Battersea Power Station and Battersea Water Pumping Station and the surrounding land.
Development of the surrounding land will be far too dense and completely obscure Battersea Power Station from views from the south of the building, especially by the application for all of the residential blocks around the Power Station being planned for up to 56 metres in height.
The buildings have the real effect of crowding the Power Station and not allowing the listed building the dignity of protected views. Battersea park road / Nine Elms Lane and Queenstown Road will be blocked off by the high buildings.
None of these buildings should be higher than the parapet of the Switch Houses of Turbine Halls A & B.
Views from the railway into Victoria Station will be obscured.
There is no indication about the percentage of homes that will be “affordable” We propose that this figure should be 50%.
The development is so dense with over 3000 flats that it is pure greed that there are plans to build more flats as penthouses on the Boiler House and Switch Houses. This adds further insult to the Listed Grade II* building one of the top landmarks of London. We oppose the development of structures and extensions connected to the building to provide accommodation which will ruin the silhouette of the building
The proposal for a roof top swimming pool was only ever to divert criticism from the plan to build the original, monstrous, Vinoly tower. For this to be given credibility will show the whole scheme to be discredited.
All water features are on the land are irrelevant. The Thames flows past and Battersea Park has extensive lakes. The water just serves to make the land unusable by people who might want a place to walk and sit and the water further restricts movement around the site because most of the gardens will be denied to the public as they will be private gardens for the residents.
There should be public open space/park equivalent to the open space/park on the Riverside on the south side of the power station.
The Battersea Water Pumping Station should not be demolished. It is Grade II listed, older than the power station 1860 and a unique example of the London Water supply with the Largest Cornish engine ever built (no longer existing) The Pumping Station is a compliment to the Power Station.
Nearby are the railway arches used by A.V. Roe to build the Bulldog plane, the first plane to fly, and the gasworks where balloon flight became the prelude to powered flight. It is a shame that this industrial heritage is not protected because there is the same relevance as the Iron Bridge museum right here in Battersea.
The Water Pumping Station should have the protection of a condition that it can only be demolished when the detailed plans for new buildings are approved and there is a contract in place to build the new building on the site of the Pumping Station.
The riverside walk should be built as soon as it is possible to do so.
Battersea Power Station Chimneys
The report by Stuart Tappin and George Ballard shows that the chimneys can be repaired and that the proposal to demolish is not proved. Don Bianco of English Heritage agrees that the chimneys should not be demolished. Mr Bianco is the EH inspector who regularly checked the building every six months and abseiled from the top outside and inside the chimneys.
The previous owners claimed to have entered into an irrevocable letter of credit that guaranteed the funds to rebuild the chimneys in the event that they were unable to do the rebuilding. Parkview promptly left and there was no evidence that such a document existed.. Without this guarantee of sufficient funds from the current owners we believe that once the chimneys are demolished they will never be rebuilt leading to the eventual demolition of all of the building to be replaced by luxury flats.
Internally the proposal to remove to the switch gear in Annex B to a new location is opposed and should be kept in the original location with Control Rooms A & B open free to the public.
It appears that the listed status of Grade II* is being ignored by the proposal to create windows in the walls. It is a characteristic of the listing that the large areas of brick are integral to the building and by making more windows the whole effect will be changed to the detriment of the Power Station.
Tube Line
The plans for the tube extension from Kennington are at best confused and at worst “Humbug” as described by the Minister for Transport, Sediq Kahn.
There seems to be 4 different routes proposed but there is no intersection at Vauxhall tube.
Whereas the Waterloo and City Line taken towards Clapham Junction would allow a direct connection between the City and The Junction and reduce the load on Waterloo Station with many passengers seeking to travel in the direction of the Junction.
The Waterloo and City Line could easily reach Vauxhall helping to relieve some crowding on the Victoria Line. It would also relieve crowding on the Main Line and the City branch of the Northern Line, from Waterloo to Clapham Junction and Elephant and Castle to Stockwell.
Historically there have been three routes through SE London proposed as extensions for various lines:-
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Through Bricklayer’s Arms and Lewisham to Hayes/Bexleyheath
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Through Herne Hill and West Norwood to Crystal Palace and Beckenham
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Through Camberwell, Denmark hill and Dulwich to Streatham and Croydon.
The Victoria Line is built to the Crystal Palace alignment and its proposed extension to Herne Hill is along it. The Bakerloo Line was originally built to an alignment towards Bricklayer’s Arms. The Northern Line’s Charing Cross branch naturally faces the Camberwell route.
There are 3 lines and 3 routes for extensions to traverse.
Sendeng the Northern Line to Battersea would remove the future possibility of some part or all of at least one of the above routes through the South East being served.
Finance for the listed buildings
If the buildings were in a development trust they would be eligible for grants from the Sport and Heritage Lottery Funds.
Yours sincerely Brian Barnes MBE
Battersea Power Station Community Group
16 DRCA Charlotte Despard Avenue
London SW11 5HD
Battersea Power Station-Privatising the river front
BATTERSEA POWER STATION and Berkeley Homes are blocking the river access. REO, current owners of Battersea Power Station, are planning to do nothing on the site until after 2012 and not completing construction until 2020. That is their planned schedule, of course there could be delays and it could slip into the mid or late 20s. Meanwhile Londoners are excluded from using the river front.
REO like to claim they are concerned to benefit local people and Londoners in general but actually do nothing to back this up. A quick and relatively cheap benefit REO could implement NOW to demonstrate their good intentions would be to open up access to the river.
The Thames Path, part of the National Trail, is unique, it’s the only long distance path to follow a river for most of its length. It should be possible to walk the entire length of the River Thames through the city centre.
Thames Path (section 14)
Currently the Thames Path on the south bank going east runs along the embankment of Battersea Park, extends to a new pedestrian bridge that goes under Chelsea Bridge towards the Power Station.
There is then a short riverside path running in front of the new Berkeley Homes flats that ends in a gate saying: “Private Property: No public Access Beyond this point. Site access only” and “Danger Construction Site”
Is this really "private property"?
There is no obvious reason why Berkeley Homes should be able to privatise this river front access for their exclusive use. Is it legal? There is no sign of any construction work being done beyond these gates. It cannot be because the Power Station is unsafe as REO, current owners of the site, have recently agreed to build a marquee inside the roofless turbine hall between the four chimneys for lucrative income generating public events.
View of Berkeley Home's office from the north bank. Why is this blocking the "Thames Path"?
The path could easily extend east in front of the power station and connect with the Thames Path at Kirtling St and Tideway Walk.
The only real obstacle is the Cringle Street Refuse Transfer Station. However at other points on the Thames were there are such riverside waste transfer stations the path continues inside a protective cage. On REO’s own model (below) they showed the path going out onto a jetty over the river. The grey jetty already exists only the white jetty extensions at either end are needed to make the Thames Path continuous and by pass the Refuse Transfer Station.
REO's model showing extended jetty running in front of Waste Transfer Station
REO’s own plans shows a riverside footbridge going around the waste transfer plant. A small extension of the jetty ( in white) provides a path that bypasses the Waste transfer plant.
There is no reason the Thames Path could not be opened up NOW, cheaply and immediately. If you want to let REO know how you feel about them blocking the Thames Path you can fill in their questionnaire.
Visit Spectacle’s on-going Battersea Power Station Project
Watch a video trailer here: Battersea Power Station – The Story So Far
Subscribe to our newsletter mailing list, visit our contact page to subscribe
If you live in the neighbourhood and would like to get involved, contact us here putting Battersea Power Station in your message.
Click here to view more Battersea Power Station links
Spectacle Home Page
If you would like to object to the planning applications for Battersea Power Station you have until January 31st 2010 click here for more details.
For more information about Spectacle’s Battersea Power Station project including video interviews.
To read more blogs about Battersea Power Station
Do you have any ideas for Battersea Power Station?
Do you have ideas for how Battersea power station could be used NOW or in the FUTURE?
REO, the current owners of Battersea Power Station, make vague promises about community use and access to the site but all their plans are projected way into the future. REO’s schedule is “planning” until 2012 and building only set to finish in 2020- nearly 40 years after the power station was decommissioned.
Do you have any ideas for immediate use?
How about something for the kids like a giant adventure playground?
A river bus hub for river buses that acccept oyster cards?
The building is so huge, many times the size of its little and uglier sister the Tate Modern, it can probably accommodate all your ideas.
REO insist on only considering grandiose money making schemes on the site. They clearly plan to do nothing until 2012 and then only if they get their tube extension. This “all or nothing” approach flies in the face of current economic realities and other successful models of re-using industrial buildings based on either gradual and organic development or imaginative re-use of the spaces.
Do you have any ideas for how to use such a big building?
A museum of power technology; steam, water, wind, coal?
A Museum of the Thames? It could contain many boats, it has a river front. It has a great views from the chimneys.
An extension of the Science or Natural History Museums for all their bigger exhibits?
A Museum of Flight. Battersea has connections with aviation e.g.1900s Battersea Balloon Works.
Most of REO’s plans are for building around the site.Their ideas for the power station are banal, a conference centre (yawn), hotel and shopping (novel) and, would you believe, flats. If there was ever a building inappropriate for residential use it is Battersea Power Station. Their plans necessitate vandalising the magnificent brick facades by punching through windows in order to maximise income generating floor space. Light wells would be the more appropriate, architecturally sensitive but less profitable option.
Do you have any ideas that do not mean destroying the architectural value of the building?
REO make much of the “green spaces” ( the little bits between what they plan to build around the power station) but are less keen to make clear most are private spaces. Do you have ideas for the site that do not require surrounding and obscuring the Power Station with dense ugly office buildings?
Do you have any ideas how to use the current open spaces around the power station?
Doing nothing until 2020 demonstrates a bankruptcy of ideas by REO. If REO cannot think of, or at least allow, any uses that benefit Londoners and the local community then they are unsuitable custodians of a national treasure and should hand over the site to public ownership.
Visit Spectacle’s on-going Battersea Power Station Project
Watch a video trailer here: Battersea Power Station – The Story So Far
Subscribe to our newsletter mailing list, visit our contact page to subscribe
If you live in the neighbourhood and would like to get involved, contact us here putting Battersea Power Station in your message.
Click here to view more Battersea Power Station links
