Boris clears Battersea plans

While most people are winding down ahead of a few days’ holiday over the next week or so, the property industry’s dealmakers show no sign of slowing down. Among the various developments in the headlines there is the prospect of a truly enormous scheme in London over the next few years, after the Mayor of London Boris Johnson this week cleared the plans for the regeneration of Battersea Power Station into a huge development of residential, office and retail space over the next six years.

The proposals are now going to the Department for Communities and Local Government for consideration. (picture from Wandsworth Guardian). Real Estate Opportunities developed the plans, which Wandsworth Borough Council submitted to the Mayor last month. They include proposals for 3,700 homes, 1.6m sq ft of offices and 500,000 sq ft of retail space including restaurants, Property Week reports. Construction is set to begin in 2012 and to be completed in 2016.

REO said its planning application was the largest ever for Central London, with the Power Station itself at the heart of the development, “restored to its former glory, standing as a commanding reminder of London’s industrial past and thrilling future.” The Power Station has been empty since it was decommissioned in 1983.

The Mayor of London’s office noted that the plans are part of the GLA Group’s wider Vauxhall-Nine Elms-Battersea Opportunity Area (OA), one of the largest regeneration proposals being considered in the capital. Once completed, the OA will deliver as many as 25,000 jobs, with about 15,000 people working within Battersea Power Station alone, it said.

The REO proposal includes a privately-funded extension to the Northern Line on the Underground network to Nine Elms, to be partly funded by a commitment of more than £200m from the developers.

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