# Battersea Power Station - The Family Visit - October 2013



## Derelict-UK (Nov 16, 2013)

Some 83 years ago my Great Great Uncle was approached by the London Power Company in regards to making a new London power station more appealing to the surrounding community after proposals for the site brought out local protests in fear the site would be too large and a blight on the area. He took up the challenge and decided on a brick based exterior and four new style column chimneys to take the smoke from the coal powered station high over the surrounding chimney tops. 

My Great Great Uncle was Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and the power station was, of course, Battersea Power Station.

The following image shows my line of descent, the only person missing is me.

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott is in the middle of the photograph next to the woman in white (my late Grandmother), on the left of her is my late Grandfather, David Gilbert Scott and on his shoulders is my dad, 
Christopher David Scott.

Adrian Gilbert Scott (Giles’ brother, and my Great Grandfather) is second from the right. The photograph was taken at George Gilbert Scott Jnr’s wife’s house (Ellen) in Ninfield, East Sussex. Ellen is the old lady on the bottom row in the center of the image. 







Whilst we are doing the family tree lines, Sir George Gilbert Scott (The Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station, Albert Memorial etc) is my Great Great Great Grandfather. 


So my family history explained, you can see my reason for contacting Battersea Power Station. I read they were to open the gates to the public for one last time in September before the building work intensified. We looked at going on these days but realised that only one person was able to make it, so I contacted their head office to start the ball rolling. Eventually we organised a date to suit us all and went out for one of the most relaxed visits to BPS. This was a good idea as we found out that over 40,000 people attended the 2-day open day and many more were turned away despite queuing for hours in Battersea Park! 

At this moment I would like to thank all at BPS, including the security who were all so kind on the day.

We arrived and donned our PPE and were ready to trek towards the station when we find out we will be driving around in a luxury leather seated Land Rover! (I could get used to this!). 







Part of the reason for the visit was to get answers on questions I had concerns over. As, like most of you, I had heard hearsay on the net about what was going to be scrapped and what public access was going to be like. Well hopefully I will answer (some of) these questions here.

Our first point of call was Control Room A. 

Everything you see in here (well bar the temporary floor and building strip lights) is staying, there are thoughts of turning it into some kind of restaurant or bistro where the public can still enjoy it. I for one think that is a great idea and has worked well in places such as Saltaire in Bingley (W. Yorks). Most of what is currently on site (including Control Room B, which we did not visit) will be remaining.

So we entered the building and worked our way up...








































Checkout the amazing ceiling! Pure luxury...






A look down to Turbine Hall A...




























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## Derelict-UK (Nov 16, 2013)

Our second port of call was a look at Turbine Hall A, the central area and Turbine Hall B.

So Turbine Hall A is planned to stay like you see it here; a large void of space with a high ceiling. There will be shops and cafe's to the left and the right, but the shop fronts will be level with the concrete pillars. This will mean that you will still enter the huge volume of space, much like at the Tate Modern.






Some murals on the wall (on the left of the image above) with Control Room A directly above...






Now here are the iconic chimneys...











BPS plan to keep as much of the brickwork and metal girders showing from the two ends as possible. 
They will replace the windows but the walls will be exposed (behind glass or whatnot) and internally lit. 
Again, I like the idea.

Chimney wise, this is where I am slightly uncomfortable, if you view the image above (2nd up) you will see heras fencing on the ground directly below the chimney's. These are 'safe zones' for any part of the chimneys that may decide to fall off. Apparently the concrete isn't doing well inside, well not well enough to last the future life of the building anyway. So the planners have been granted permission by English Heritage and the local council to dismantle the chimneys and replace them with new ones (albeit to the same design of the original blueprints), so hopefully they should look exactly the same at the end of it, but there will be a moment in the capital's history where the landmark will lose it's identity. 

What happens if the company goes bust during this process? Well the company has set aside a pot of money. This money is in control by Wandsworth Council just in case the building project stops (like all the others previously) and they will continue the work and finish off the job so whatever happens, the 4 chimneys will be rebuilt. 

A link to more info on the chimney rebuild... http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news/article/11900/new_sequence_agreed_for_chimney_rebuild


Turbine Hall B...






Notice the tiled pillars, these will be renovated to look like they did when first constructed, keeping the tiles in place. 







Now we move to the rear of the open land to get a few wide angle shots...

Me and my rather massive shadow!!






The family taking in the view...






Good use of puddle...






This shot is from the end facing the River Thames...






And the cranes which will also be kept...







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## Derelict-UK (Nov 16, 2013)

At this point I had noticed the wind was getting stronger, not great as there was one last thing on my list, a trip up to the base of the chimney. Our guide, who by the way was like a walking history book of BPS knowledge, phoned the security office who said the wind was just about under the cut off strength, so off we drove back round to the external lift...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzY5WJVk0h8[/ame]






At the base of the chimney...
















Me...






Then we go back to earth!

When we got back to reception, I got a picture of the doors (that will be replaced onto the station during construction) from the bottom of the stairwell of Control Room A, these are now behind the reception desk...






This canvas image of the stations construction was hung in the (extremely posh) male toilets!!






And this was the model of the landmark that was used in the London Olympics ceremony...







So that's it, the Scott family tour of Battersea Power Station.

For more information, please visit;

www.batterseapowerstation.co.uk


And one last photo, might as well end with the family group in front of the power station shot!!

(my auntie, my dad (who was the little boy on the shoulders in the first family photo), my sister, my mum and me (Michael Christopher Scott).







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## mrscorp (Nov 16, 2013)

Nice to see that the whole of the visit was a family day out. Reminiscing is great when you have a deep seated connection to a specific place  Well done!


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## cogito (Nov 16, 2013)

Derelict-UK said:


>



That's one angle I always wanted to get. To stand on those balconies and look over the turbine hall. Good job!


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## mookster (Nov 16, 2013)

Amazing stuff, so nice to see it in daylight for once!

As for the chimneys, one of the stipulations of the replacement of them is that they can only be taken off one at a time, to avoid them all getting conveniently 'lost'.


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## King Al (Nov 16, 2013)

Great report Michael! Really enjoyed looking and reading through this


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## MD (Nov 16, 2013)

great report and like others have said its great to see angles you can't get in the dark 

thanks


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## krela (Nov 16, 2013)

Absolutely fantastic!


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## cunningplan (Nov 16, 2013)

Passed there many a time and did not know so much was left inside.
Fantastic report


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## flyboys90 (Nov 16, 2013)

Brilliant report,photos & DVD really enjoyed reading thanks for sharing.


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## leepey74 (Nov 16, 2013)

Amazing pictures! Great write up too! I used to pass this place all the time when i drove around London and was always interested. Just never got the time to go and look for myself.

On the shot of the chimney's on the riverside, the right hand one looks like its leaning quite bad, so im wondering if its the bottom structure of the chimney's thats giving way??

What a truely amazing place, and would be brilliant to pop in for a coffee one day in the future 

Thanks for sharing.


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## Derelict-UK (Nov 16, 2013)

Thanks for the feedback 

Something I didn't mention was my concern the power station would turn into a small shopping space on the lower floors and office space/apartments in the rest of the building.

Well this is not happening, the power station will be 90% accessible to the public, with only the very top floors (ie roof built) being penthouses.

There will be a public atrium on the roof where you can look down into the complex and there will be restaurants, a theatre, art galleries (possibly in the turbine halls) and various shops.

So the majority of the power station will be accessible to the public.


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## leepey74 (Nov 16, 2013)

Even better  It must be quite reasurring to know that its not just going to be left to ruin, and a building so iconic to your family will be preserved for all your future family members. 

Lets hope it all happens soon so everyone can enjoy this amazing place.


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## oldscrote (Nov 16, 2013)

Best report I've seen on here in a long time,thanks for sharing your wonderful day out.After seeing all the controls and then going up in lift were you thinking 'Beam me up Scotty'


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## Derelict-UK (Nov 16, 2013)

leepey74 said:


> Even better  It must be quite reasurring to know that its not just going to be left to ruin, and a building so iconic to your family will be preserved for all your future family members.
> 
> Lets hope it all happens soon so everyone can enjoy this amazing place.



When they first got the bid and I saw the plans, it wasn't my favourite choice. I liked the idea to turn it into a public park, grass and meadows inside, something like Landschaftspark in Germany (http://en.landschaftspark.de/startseite).

But looking at the plans now I am happier with the power station access. It's a shame the flats will block the view on all but one side, but when you go to ground level there will be many routes giving you a leading view up to the station.




oldscrote said:


> Best report I've seen on here in a long time,thanks for sharing your wonderful day out.After seeing all the controls and then going up in lift were you thinking 'Beam me up Scotty'



Not quite, but I was thinking it was one of the best family days out I have ever had!!


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## Catmandoo (Nov 16, 2013)

This is brilliant, Amazing to see that the pictures are 'unstressed'..... free to rome.......


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## ajarb (Nov 16, 2013)

Relieved that they are saving all that control room switch gear. Will make a truly amazing place.


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## cunningplan (Nov 25, 2013)

While on the London Eye yesterday I could not resist take these.


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## peterc4 (Nov 26, 2013)

very nice and well done to you all


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## rocks-town (Nov 26, 2013)

Not my usual cup of tea, but non the less absolutly amazing report and architecture. Thanks for opening my eyes. X


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