BPS Removed From Heritage at Risk Register

Battersea Power Station is celebrating another important milestone in its regeneration with the Grade II* listed building being removed from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register ahead of its opening to the public next year. 

Battersea Power Station is a true London icon. It was built from 1929 onwards and at its peak supplied one fifth of London’s electricity. The Power Station was decommissioned in 1983 and after years sitting derelict, the Grade II* listed building was added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 1991. 

Extensive and highly skilled conservation work has taken place throughout Battersea Power Station to preserve and enhance its historic features including the building’s four iconic chimneys, which have been painstakingly rebuilt using the original construction method, having been deemed unsafe following extensive surveys. This required over 25,000 wheelbarrows of concrete to be poured by hand into shuttered layers which were left to set one by one. Samples of the original paint were also taken and meticulously colour-matched to determine the choice of paint applied, with each chimney requiring 375 litres.

Approximately 1.75 million handmade bricks have also been ordered from the two British brickmakers who supplied the bricks to build Battersea Power Station to match the originals. Family owned Northcot Brick, based in Gloucestershire, have made 1.3 million bricks to restore parts of the Power Station built in the 1930s and 1940s while 440,000 bricks from Blockleys in Telford, Shropshire, part of the Michelmersh Brick Holdings Group, have been used on the final parts of the building dating from the 1950s.  

Simon Murphy, Chief Executive Officer at Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), said: “Following several years of careful and complex restoration, we are delighted that the Power Station has been removed from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. Working with a Grade II* listed building is not without its challenges, however as custodians of the Power Station our shareholders and all of the team are extremely proud to have brought one of the capital’s greatest icons back to life and futureproofing it for generations to come.

We have worked closely with Historic England, Wandsworth Council, heritage architects Purcell and WilkinsonEyre to ensure that the building was treated sensitively and with the respect it deserves throughout the restoration process. It is thanks to the vision of our shareholders and these key partnerships that we are celebrating this important milestone as we countdown to the Power Station’s doors opening to the public for the first time in history next year.”

Once completed, Battersea Power Station will be one of the most exciting retail and leisure destinations in London. The restored and repurposed Power Station will include over 100 shops, bars and restaurants, 254 apartments, office space as well as unique events and leisure offering, including the Chimney Lift Experience. There will also be a new six-acre riverfront park that is open to the public.