It was a long, slow and slightly scary climb up the side of Battersea Power Station in a builder's hoist on Monday afternoon as dusk fell and the wind blew.
But the view from 180 feet up was spectacular, once the desire to hug the base of the front left chimney and call for mother dissipated.
Then it was possible to look across the Thames at Sloane Square and be partially convinced by developer Robert Tincknell that the 204-acre site provides a terrific opportunity for London to have a new centre for the arts and media: partially convinced, because there are formidable obstacles to overcome before it can safely be assumed the roofless power station will be filled with 1.9 million square feet of offices, shops and restaurants.
The main obstacle is getting the Northern Line extended from Kennington to Battersea. That is going to cost maybe £500 million.
It will all have to be paid for by taxes raised on the 20 million sq ft of development planned in the 480-acre special planning zone that also includes nearby New Covent Garden and the new US embassy.
"That equates to just £25 a square foot," says Tincknell, managing director of Treasury Holdings UK, a subsidiary of one of Ireland's largest developers and 67% owners of Real Estate Opportunities. REO is the listed company that bought Battersea three years ago for £400 million.
"The reality is that it is complicated and challenging. But the tube will hugely increase property values across the whole planning zone," he says.
That's why REO is paying engineers from Transport for London to work up detailed plans, which include an extra station at Nine Elms. A body called the Nine Elms Transport Company (Netco) is to be set up to collect and dispense the tube finances. How long will it all take? Who knows?
The worry is the deteriorating state of the power station, completed in 1935 and open to the weather for decades. REO has spent £3 million on preventing the brickwork from crumbling and needs to spend £3 million more. To make the old station weather-tight and take it to the "shell and core" stage of development will cost £125 million.
Last month several hundred million of the REO loans on Battersea were transferred into the Irish government's asset protection programme, NAMA.
This is a good thing, not a bad thing, says Tincknell, for it will bring stability to the project. "We have got plenty of cash coming in to see the project through." Tincknell says that even if the tube is not built, REO will get on and build some of the 3600 homes planned for the site.
Meanwhile, what our man is currently doing is looking hard for a co-investor and escorting leading members of the London arts and media community up in that hoist.
This is part of a recruitment exercise for an advisory board that will help generate excitement and interest in Battersea as a new cultural centre for London. Membership will be announced in January. A strong nerve and a head for heights is required.
No comments:
Post a Comment