Four giant gas holders to make way for homes and businesses
National Grid has announced it will be decommissioning four giant gas holders next to Battersea Power Station to make way for new homes, shops and business space.
The site is located in the Vauxhall, Nine Elms, Battersea (VNEB) Opportunity Area, the former industrial district which has begun to transform into a new residential and business quarter.
Wandsworth Council's strategic planning spokesman Cllr Jonathan Cook said the announcement is another shot in the arm the regeneration process:
"Just about every major landowner in the Opportunity Areas is now gearing up to redevelop their plot. By the time the process is complete hundreds of acres of industrial and derelict land will have been transformed into new housing, business hubs and shopping districts.
"We expect as many as 16,000 new homes to be built here and enough commercial space to sustain an extra 25,000 jobs. There will also be new parks, riverside walks, cultural attractions, schools and two new tube stations. There really is no other regeneration zone in the country with the potential to match Nine Elms."
National Grid Major Sites Team Manager Jim Moore said: "There are huge changes taking place in this part of London and we want to be part of the regeneration process. The gas holders site occupies an important position between Battersea Power Station and existing homes to the south. Its redevelopment will provide a key link between the established communities and the new ones taking shape in Nine Elms.
"Its early days in the planning process but we're looking at creating around 800 new homes on the site, plus shops, restaurants, cafés, and leisure spaces at ground floor level to draw people in and bring the development to life.
"We plan to start decommissioning the gas holders during the summer. Demolition and remediation work could start in 2012."
The Vauxhall, Nine Elms, Battersea (VNEB) Opportunity Area includes 450 acres of land on the Thames riverside between Battersea Park and Lambeth Bridge.
It covers an area far larger than Hyde Park and is located just one mile upstream from the Houses of Parliament.
Momentum has been building over the last six months with several planning applications being submitted for vast redevelopment schemes. These include Marcus Cooper Group's plans for Marco Polo House and Ballymore's Embassy Gardens development.
Other schemes have already been approved including Treasury Holding's Battersea Power Station plans, St James Group's Riverlight development (formerly known as Tideway Wharf) and the United States Government's plan for a new embassy complex off Nine Elms Lane .
More major landowners are now in developer mode including National Grid, Sainsbury's, Royal Mail Group, Covent Garden Market Authority, Klum and CIT-Green Properties.
An estimated £1bn of new infrastructure is supporting the area's growth. This includes a two station extension of the Northern Line to connect the district to the capital's underground network. The planning process is underway for the new tube link and Transport for London is working with Treasury Holdings to prepare a formal planning application.
A Nine Elms Vauxhall Strategy Board has been established to coordinate the vast scale of new investment pouring into the area. It includes the district's main landowners as well as the planning and transport authorities. This unique public-private partnership has a shared vision for the area and is working together to ensure this rapidly changing part of central London achieves its huge potential.
For more information visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/nineelms
July 6, 2011