Battersea Power Station plans gets government back

Plans to redevelop Battersea Power Station have received the backing of the government's architecture and urban design agency. The proposed £5.5bn project would see 3,700 homes built alongside offices, shops and restaurants on the 40-acre site in south-west London. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) praised the 'intelligent' design. Wandsworth Council is expected to make a decision on the plans in July. Developers, Treasury Holdings UK, registered the planning application for the project with the council in October. Cabe has supported that application saying architect Rafael Vinoly's design was 'intelligent and well-resolved'. [b]Riverside park[/b] But the agency also raised a number of issues including potential problems of overshadowing and the need to ensure flats on lower levels get enough light. Under the proposals the historic building by the River Thames will become home to a conference centre and its four famous chimneys will be restored. Two turbine halls and the station's control rooms will be open to the public and a six-acre riverside park will be developed on the riverside north of the building. The power station, which stopped producing electricity in 1983, became famous when it featured on the front cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals.

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