The complex of this CHP was built on the banks of the Thames in the 1930s. designed by the architect Giles Gilbert Scott, who also built the Bankside Power Plant, now better known as the Tate Modern.
The Battersea complex is one of the most interesting examples of London Art Deco, and is also (given its second building, which was identical in appearance to the first in the 1950s), the largest brick building in Europe. In this regard, the power plant received the status of an architectural monument of the II degree, which protected it from demolition in 1983, when it was closed.
Plans for the reconstruction of its building and the vast area around it appeared in the mid-1980s: at first it was supposed to arrange an amusement park there, and since the early 1990s, Nicholas Grimshaw was involved in the regeneration of the complex. But all of the new uses for Battersea have not been implemented for financial reasons.
Therefore, the project by Rafael Vignoli is emphatically called “realizable”. It is also the most "advanced" in the UK today in terms of energy conservation.
The £ 4bn plan includes converting 15 hectares of the former industrial estate into a green, mixed-use development, refurbishing Battersea's CHP buildings and bringing the surrounding area into London's public transport coverage.
In total, at least 750,000 square meters will be built there. m of housing, offices and shops. The Gilbert building will house a hotel, apartments and a shopping center; open courtyards will be transformed into public spaces. The plan also envisages the construction of a modern biofuel-fired power plant in the underground part of the historic building; the famous Battersea pipes will be used to remove the vapors generated during its operation. The project also includes the creation of a park of 2.5 hectares, a promenade and an area.
The second energetic element of Vignoli's proposal is the 300 m high "Trumpet" skyscraper and the Eco-dome surrounding it, made of the same material as the famous "Eden" project of Grimshaw.
The tower will be used for housing, as well as the world's largest solar-powered natural ventilation system will be installed inside it, which will serve not only the "Pipe", and the office complex under the Eco-dome.
Construction is scheduled to begin no later than 2012 and be completed by 2020. Although the Vignoli project has already been criticized for being "radical", its implementation will preserve the historic Battersea complex, which is now one of Britain's worst monuments.
