Inside the Power Station’s historic turbine halls are now thriving shops, restaurants and leisure venues. (Credit: Charlie Round-Turner).
PETALING JAYA: The Battersea Power Station in Central London has been awarded the World Gold Winner in the Heritage category at the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards 2024, making it the third win at FIABCI and the first award recipient of the newly introduced category.
The regeneration project by Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd, S P Setia Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has restored and given a new lease of life to one of London’s most important landmarks, transforming Battersea Power Station into a mixed-use destination with over 100 shops, restaurants, cafes and leisure experiences, 254 apartments and 565,000 sq ft of office space.
Battersea Project Holding Company chairman Tan Sri Jagan Sabapathy said winning the award was a source of great pride for the project.
“In recognising its heritage value as an authentic driver for commercial success, we have successfully unlocked a prime Central London district that lay derelict for nearly three decades through the visionary transformation and adaptive reuse of the Grade II listed landmark,” he said. “Most importantly, we have successfully established an inclusive new community of residents, workers, retailers and visitors, creating a place for everyone to enjoy, for generations to come.”
A former coal-fired power station on the River Thames, Battersea Power Station operated from 1933 to 1983 and generated up to one-fifth of London’s power, including providing electricity to prestigious buildings such as Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. After being decommissioned in 1983, the Power Station grew increasingly derelict as a string of different owners made failed attempts to re-develop the landmark.
In 2012 a consortium formed by the current owners purchased the estate and kick-started the restoration project, including repointing the building’s famous brick facade with 1.75 million new bricks from the original UK suppliers, painstakingly dismantling and rebuilding the Power Station’s four iconic chimneys using the original construction methods from the 1930s, and restoring the historic turbine halls to create grand new public spaces filled with shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and leisure experiences.
The restored Battersea Power Station is now transformed into a cultural, retail and leisure hub, where people can live, work, shop and play inside the landmark’s historic setting. It is also home to Apple’s new 500,000 sq ft UK headquarters where up to 3,000 workers are based and Lift109, a one-of-a-kind glass elevator experience inside the north-west chimney, where visitors can take in spectacular 360-degree views of the London skyline.
Recent openings at Battersea Power Station include restaurants and bars. Opening later this year is a luxury health club, pharmacy, healthcare clinic and cafes.
The neighbourhood also has been named one of the Top 20 Best Cultural Spots in National Geographic’s Best of the World 2024 series and won the RIBA London Conservation Award 2024. Battersea Power Station was also awarded World Gold in the Master Plan category at the FIABCI World Prix d'Excellence Awards 2021, and World Silver in the Residential Mid-Rise Category for the first completed phase Circus West Village, in 2019.
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