WilkinsonEyre are the architects of the major restoration and repurposing of the iconic Grade II* listed Battersea Power Station. The designs of new and restored features are consistent with and sympathetic to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s masterpiece, with the four chimneys, massive brick outline and Turbine Halls remaining the dominant features of the building.

Retaining the Power Station’s sense of scale and visual drama is key to the project and is achieved through features such as full-height voids behind the southern and northern entrances, a vast central atrium and the Turbine Halls, rich in heritage features, which have become retail gallerias.

The architectural interventions respect the integrity of the historic landmark while creating new events spaces, shops, restaurants and cafés, large open-plan office spaces and a series of sky villas positioned around rooftop garden squares above the Boiler House and Turbine Halls.

Originally designed in the 1930s by the UK’s renowned architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Battersea Power Station provided one-fifth of London’s electricity, supplying some of the capital’s most recognisable landmarks including the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, before being decommissioned in 1983.
It became one of the city’s best known industrial landmarks, featuring on the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals, on which it was photographed with the group’s inflatable pig floating between the chimneys.

The residential elements are a mixture of new build apartments and villas located on the roofs, and conversion units within the existing fabric. The accommodation occupies both Switch House West and Switch House East, on either side of the Power Station, as well as centrally on top of the Boiler House roof, framing an open landscaped garden square.
Residents of the converted Switch House homes enter the building through landscaped piazzas at ground level, while the Boiler House villas are accessed via a glass lift between the structural girders of the former wash towers, the iconic chimneys visible above.

The properties have a variety of layouts and sizes depending on their location in the building, their design responding organically to this unique address. Battersea welcomed its first residents in May 2021.

By opening up the magnificently restored Turbine Halls to the public for the first time, the Power Station has become one of London's most exciting retail destinations. Through the preservation of the existing fabric and finishes, the major volumes within the building are now exploited to best advantage. Spanning over three levels of specially designed galleries, a wide array of restaurants, shops and event spaces create a vibrant and immersive atmosphere throughout the day.
The Power Station’s original Control Rooms with their different period styling have also been fully restored. Control Room A has become a unique events space and Control Room B has been transformed into a new all-day bar concept, where patrons will be able to get up close to the original dials and controls.

The Power Station will be host to a number of entertainment venues cementing its position as one of London’s go-to leisure destinations, including the Cinema at the Power Station and a members club.

Set across six floors within the upper Boiler House, the office space is attracting the cream of international creative tenants dedicated to new ways of working, open plan spaces and an industrial aesthetic. Apple are the largest tenant occupying more than 46,000m² across six floors.
An enormous atrium at the heart of the space, together with others at the north and south entrances, filters light to all office floors while allowing views of the chimneys above.

Lift 109 is a glazed elevator experience that carries visitors up to the top of the building’s 50m northwest chimney. Carrying up to 30 passengers, it emerges 109m above the ground, to reveal 360-degree views across London. The attraction is open to the public and available for private events; the experience is rounded off with an exhibition on the Power Station’s history in Turbine Hall A.

Battersea Power Station is the centrepiece of the transformation of a brownfield site into a compact urban quarter. Through a clever combination of preservation and renovation measures, WilkinsonEyre.Architects have maintained the historic charm of the industrial heritage building while at the same time adapting it to today's energy requirements – thanks to Janisol Arte 2.0, among other things: “The steel system enabled us to retain the original proportions while at the same time allowing us to use double-glazed insulating glass,” says Sebastien Ricard, Project Manager at WilkinsonEyre.Architects.

It is one of London's most famous landmarks: Battersea Power Station, a former coal-fired power station on the south bank of the Thames. Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott as a brick-clad steel skeleton structure, construction of the building began in 1929 with the power station being commissioned in 1933. Until the end of the Second World War, Battersea Power Station consisted only of the elongated Block A with two chimneys. After 1945, it was extended by the almost identical Block B. This gave the building its characteristic appearance with the four white chimneys rising 110 metres into the sky.

From industrial wasteland to urban quarter

After the power plant was shut down at the end of the 1980s, there were various projects for redeveloping the 17-hectare industrial wasteland. However, none of these proved conclusive and the site changed hands several times. The current owner is a Malaysian consortium of investors; the transformation into a modern urban quarter is being run by the UK-based Battersea Power Station Development Company. According to its master plan, more than 4,000 apartments, tens of thousands of square metres of office space and a small power station would be built in eight construction phases, each under the leadership of star architects from all over the world.

Second construction phase: Battersea Power Station redevelopment

In 2013, the world-renowned firm WilkinsonEyre.Architects was commissioned to implement the second construction phase, the renovation of the power station protected by listed building status (Grade II*, “particularly important buildings of more than special interest”). Their designs for the conversion into a mixed-use building respect the characteristic atmosphere, monumentality and spaciousness of the industrial heritage building while at the same time creating contemporary space for urban uses. These include hundreds of new apartments on both sides of the turbine halls as well as a series of exclusive villas around a roof garden above the boiler house. The restored turbine halls offer thousands of square metres of space for retail outlets, restaurants and events on three levels. The former boiler house is mainly home to office space - Apple alone occupies more than 46,000 square metres on all six floors, making it the largest tenant of the architectural icon. One of the four chimneys has been converted into a glazed viewing platform offering a unique panoramic view over London.

Steel – the first choice now as in the past

The new external appearance is underlined by the so-called “heritage windows”, comprising 2,000 window elements made by seele (UK) Ltd, a company in the Gersthofen seele Group, and based on the historic design from 1930. In dialogue with WilkinsonEyre. Architects, the decision was taken to adopt the thermally separate Janisol Arte 2.0 steel profile system from Jansen: “After exhaustive international research, the Jansen system was found to be the ideal match to replicate the Crittall-style single glazed 1930s/50s windows originally used in the Power Station,“ says Sebastien Ricard, Project Manager at WilkinsonEyre.Architects, adding:

The system allowed us to match the original window frame module and proportions, but permitted the use of double glazed high performance window elements to meet modern energy performance standards. Janisol Arte 2.0 is a slim, elegant system which has proved perfect to use in the highly sensitive context of this famous and historic listed building.

Sebastien Ricard, Project Manager at WilkinsonEyre.Architects

Battersea Power Station: the place to be

The renovation of Battersea Power Station was largely completed when the residents moved into the “Switch House West” apartments at the end of May 2021. The approximately 1,400 employees of Apple's London branch also moved into their offices in the new Apple Campus in 2021. The building has nevertheless only been open to the general public since 14 October 2022. This means that the coal-fired power station on the banks of the Thames, which was shut down 30 years ago, is looking towards a promising future. The transformation by WilkinsonEyre. Architects once again shows that an historic building fabric, coupled with an innovative architectural concept, creates spaces that not only go down well with locals. With the viewing platform on the north-west chimney, the legendary London landmark should also become a popular location for tourists.