Powering ahead with Regeneration

The most conspicuous early success was Canary Wharf, lauded as one of the London’s flagship regeneration successes. Canary Wharf is now the largest employment centre in the UK, creating over 120,000 jobs, a new residential neighbourhood as well as a transport hub. Another recent regeneration success story is Kings Cross, which is now home to Google HQ and Central Saint Martins.

The Vauxhall, Nine Elms, Battersea Opportunity Area in central London is a 227-hectare area located South of the River Thames within walking distance of Westminster and Chelsea on the North. The entire area will see a delivery of a mixed-use development made up of 16,000 new homes and creation of between 20,000-25,000 new jobs.

So, what are the elements of a successful regeneration project which makes a place desirable for families to move into?

Transport drives development

One of London’s current regeneration hotspots is the Nine Elms and Battersea opportunity area which has seen a large amount of private sector residential and commercial development encouraged by the arrival of the Northern Line extension, due to open in autumn 2021, will boost property values.

The construction of the Northern Line Extension is the first major Tube line extension since the Jubilee line in the late 1990s. The extension will connect Kennington to Battersea Power Station, via Nine Elms, bringing Battersea and surrounding areas to within 15 minutes of the City and the West End, reducing travel times by over 50%.

Residents of the Power Station will also benefit from the new jetty which is served by the Thames Clippers River Bus, carrying passengers along the Thames towards Putney in the west, and to London Bridge and Canary Wharf in the east.

This underlines the importance major transport infrastructure projects can have in unlocking brownfield sites for development.

Public realm improvements

The transport upgrades are taking place alongside sweeping improvements to the public realm. The 11-acre linear park stretching from Vauxhall to Battersea Power Station will be one of the keys to the placemaking in Nine Elms. The extension of the Thames River Path will also open the riverside to a network of footpaths and cycle paths, and there will be additional green space such as ‘Prospect Park’ near Battersea Power Station, and a new riverside six-acre public park outside the Power Station. At New Covent Garden Market, the Food Exchange will include a public-facing food quarter, flexible working space and food and flower education specialists.

Pedestrians can already reach Westminster via Vauxhall Bridge and the proposed Nine Elms Pimlico Bridge will add to the area’s cross-river connectivity.

The role of retail

The recently opened Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross provides an example of a re-imagined retail space within a regenerated location. It offers a model of a carefully curated experiential retail space that future regeneration projects may seek to replicate.

Circus West Village, Phase 1 of Battersea Power Station development opened in 2017 is now a hub of restaurants, cafés, bars and leisure offerings such as the Turbine Theatre and the first Archlight Cinema. Around 1000 residents live in Circus West Village and developers say that last year more than three million people visited the area.

The first wave of British and international retailers set to open their doors in 2021 within the iconic Grade II* listed Battersea Power Station building has recently been revealed.

They include Hugo Boss, Uniqlo, Jo Malone, Space NK, M.A.C Cosmetics, Kiehl’s, Watches of Switzerland, emerging eyewear brand Finlay & Co. and Malaysian pewter homeware retailer Royal Selangor. The retailers will be located in the power station’s two Turbine Halls.

The addition of Electric Boulevard, a new high street, will create an irresistible shopping and leisure destination stretching from the entrance of the new tube station leading to the main Power Station building.

Once fully opened, the complex is expected to become the third largest retail destination in Central London, providing over 20,000 jobs and attracting tens of millions of visitors per year.

Commercial Impact

The 227 Hectare riverside district will see the creation of over 20,000 jobs, 2.8 million sq ft of retail and leisure space and 3 million sq. ft of office space. The improved transport links will help to cement its position as the newest central London business district.

Nine Elms has been the subject of diplomatic interest, a new American Embassy opened in January 2018, employing over 1000 staffs.

The £9 billion project to revamp the Grade II* listed Battersea Power Station is taking shape. It will include more than 1.25 million sq. ft of office space upon completion, which is scheduled for 2026.

The largest of these has been the lease of 500,000 sq. ft in Battersea Power Station to Apple London Campus for 1,400 employees. Whilst Apple will keep its main initial European headquarters in Cork, their new London Campus will be one of its biggest outside the US. At the time, this deal was the largest office letting in London’s West End and the surrounding area for 20 years.

The Starchitect Effect

New York City has its Hudson Yards, where British starchitect Thomas Heatherwick’s public art installation – Vessel – stands 16 stories high as an iconic landmark in the trendiest new neighbourhood in Manhattan’s New West Side.

In a design exchange programme of sorts, London has imported one of the most influential architects of the century, Canadian-born American architect Frank Gehry, across the Atlantic for its own mega-development: Battersea Power Station.

The third phase of this £9 billion project – quite positively London’s largest, most ambitious and most eagerly anticipated new residential, retail and leisure destination – will see Gehry Partners join forces with Norman Foster’s Foster + Partners for the first time to create The Electric Boulevard: A public pedestrian gateway to the entire 42-acre (8 million sq. ft) development.

Reinvention and Creativity

Restoration works for the Grade II* listed Power Station began in early 2014 and is slated to be completed in 2021.

In seeking to preserve the world-famous landmark on the London skyline, UK architectural firm WilkinsonEyre has reconstructed the chimneys identical to their predecessors; painstakingly dismantling the original chimneys that were disintegrating from disuse, and rebuilding new chimneys to the precise specification of the originals with the same combination of concrete and steel reinforcement, painted to match the original colour.

A viewing platform will later on be built at the top of the northwest chimney, offering visitors 360-degree panoramic views of London’s skyline from a height of over 100m.