Last Saturday Ecomonkey took a trip down to Battersea Power Station to see the latest redevelopment plans by Treasury Holdings Ltd. The information centre is well organised with an impressive display of photographs, architectural drawings and plans as well as a fascinating model of the huge 38 acre site with the planned redevelopment in context.
Treasury Holdings is promoting their design as sustainable - 'A New Energy For London' which sounds great. How exactly this will be manifest is a different matter. The information contained on the Battersea-Power Station website is vague about the actual sustainable aspects to say the least. So we visited the site with a healthy dose of cynicism alongside more than a little excitement.
The £150 million plan centres around a 300 metre high chimney and 'eco-dome' which will house retail and office space as well as residential on the chimney itself! Frankly, we're unsure who would want to live on a chimney but you can't fault the developers for innovation! The 'eco-dome' will draw air up and out through the chimney enabling natural ventilation which will, according to the press release, reduce energy demand by 67%. It's a shame that the chimney looks so ugly and will dwarf the original chimneys which, in Ecomonkey's humble opinion, ought to retain a level of dominance!
The other main plan is to bring back the energy supply function of Battersea Power Station but this time to use renewable energy -'biofuels, waste and other renewable energy sources' using two of the current chimneys. The site will include further residential, retail, commercial and hotel as well as public space - a square, riverside walk and 6 acre park. There are also plans to extend the underground to the site.If planning permission is granted, Treasury hope to commence building in 2012 and complete by 2020. It all sounds very ambitious and we are still not sure how much of the plan is green-wash or how realistic the sustainable aims are.
It's one thing to say the site will be 'Zero Carbon' and that the 'eco-dome' will not need air-con but surely all the houses, offices, hotel etc on the site will still consume energy and expel emissions. Will all of these buildings be powered by the site's power plant? There will undoubtedly be carbon emissions in the construction (which includes demolition and rebuilding of the existing chimneys) - have these been accounted for in the 'Zero Carbon' calculation? Will there be affordable housing or just expensive apartments to fund the development? A truly sustainable development needs to at least cater for all budgets if not focus on those at the lower end of the wage scale.
If the plans are fulfilled and the site does in fact become 'totally independent from reliance on public utilities', source all drinking water from an on-site borehole, harvest rainwater for grey-water recycling, collect, store and treat storm water for reuse, make good use of river transport etc. as it claims, we will be very impressed and ecstatically happy!There is one day left for the public to visit the site and consult the plans. So to have your say get down to Battersea this weekend:
Saturday - 19th July, 10am - 6pm.
Gate 2, 188 Kirtling Street, SW8 5BN (Tel: 0845 262 2625).
Visit the BPS website for more info.
NB: All photos are under copyright of Racheblue
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