Battersea Power Station Scheme Rejigged

Battersea Power Station Scheme Rejigged

Victor Hwang's Parkview International is to rejig the development of the Battersea Power Station scheme to allow it to proceed without spending further years in limbo.

At the heart of the changes are the construction schedule for the enormous Grimshaw designed project that will now see the most profitable parts being built first. This means building primarily the residential aspect of the plans as these profits can then be pumped back into the rest of it rather than abandoning the current plans and giving it a complete redesign. The minsunderstanding stems from the mainstream press have reached by misquoting.

Originally Hwang had intended to start with the Power Station itself and retail / leisure elements but now this has been reduced to securing the ruins whilst the hundreds of apartments in the scheme can be built generating future capital from their sales.

Asked about the logic behind this, sources close to the scheme told skyscrapernews.com that in addition to residential sales raising funds they hope that the completition of these can make the site more appealing to investors willing to put money into retail and leisure in Battersea, an area not traditionally associated with this.

"Parkview has an "if you build it, they will come" approach to property development, as you can see from their track record in Asia... I guess the best example in London of a developer taking a transformative approach is Canary Wharf, but then they had the benefit of an Enterprise Zone."

Hwang has already spent something in the region of £200 million of his firm's own money with little government help getting it this far. Most of the cash has been spent on cleaning up the former industrial site but with the total costs set to hit £1.5 billion there is still a need for a partner to provide an injection of equity and reduction of risk but changing the phasing will enable the project to keep going whilst someone can be found.

It may not be the most profitable route, that would result in dumping the vast amounts of public space that the redevelopment will create and adding greater levels of density. However, as Battersea Power Station impressed Hwang ever since he first set eyes on it long before he was a billionaire the sentimental value could well be giving him a socially responsible vision that gives a dream more importance than the bottom line.

How about that? A developer who cares about more than just money! If pigs are going to fly in London where better than Battersea Power Station.

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