David Cameron declared an end to “30 years of hurt” for Battersea power station today at the official launch of work to restore the world’s most famous industrial building to its former glory.
Writing in the Standard, the Prime Minister says the Malaysian-financed £8 billion redevelopment of the vast brick hulk and land around it is the “jewel in the crown” of regeneration projects in London. Today’s official ceremony, also attended by Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and Mayor Boris Johnson, comes three decades after the station shut.
Since then three successive owners of the “cathedral of power” tried and failed to develop the 39-acre prime riverside site with plans including an urban theme park or a shopping mall.
The 80-year-old interior of the largest surviving example of Art Deco architecture was left exposed to the elements. But it was sold to a Malaysian consortium in September and new plans, which include a £1 billion Northern Line Underground link, will create 3,500 homes, offices, shops, restaurants, a theatre and a six-acre park over the next 10 years.
In his article in the Standard Mr Cameron recalls how the station once featured on a Pink Floyd album cover with a pig floating above its famous chimneys, which will be restored.
