18 Sep 2015
Developer Bouygues to build Foster and Gehry creations for Battersea Power Station
BY Jak Phillips
Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC) has selected Bouygues UK as preferred contractor for Phase 3 of the largest single development project in central London since Canary Wharf.
With the long-running Battersea saga apparently on the road to resolution, Bouygues UK has landed the £1bn+ (US$1.6bn, €1.4bn) design and build contract for Phase 3, which features a new pedestrianised high street for London, known as The Electric Boulevard, as well as a number of mixed-use developments.
The boulevard will be the main gateway to the entire Battersea development, connecting the Northern Line Extension station to the south of the site with the Power Station itself.
The team from Bouygues UK will work alongside the Phase 3 principal consultants already appointed. The roll call of big names includes Foster + Partners, the architects responsible for the long sinuous ‘Battersea Roof Gardens’ building that will comprise new homes, a hotel and one of the largest roof gardens in the capital.
Also involved are Gehry Partners, architects of ‘Prospect Place’, a collection of five buildings each with striking sculptural façades inspired by London’s famous John Nash Regency terraces, and Prospect Park that houses a new community centre and children’s playground.
Work is due to start on site in early 2016, alongside the on-going construction of Circus West (Phase 1) and the regeneration of the Power Station itself (Phase 2). Together, Phases 1, 2 and 3 comprise the largest single development project in central London since Canary Wharf.
Elsewhere, Bjarke Ingels’ architectural practice, BIG, is designing the public square next to the iconic Power Station on behalf of Malaysian consortium, SP Setia, which is developing the building. Ingels recently captured imaginations with the suggestion of turning the chimneys at Battersea Power Station into giant sparkling Tesla coils, powered by passing pedestrians. The plans have yet to be approved for this idea, but a feasibility study has been completed.
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