Battersea Power Station

Site Brief Analysis

Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................3
Planning concept.................................................................4
Site and brief study as clues for potential design intervention4
Analytical drawing to articulate design parameter.................5
Phase one of the site...........................................................6
Battersea power station site working to reduce traffic and CO2
emission.............................................................................7
Bibliography........................................................................9

Introduction
Battersea Power Station was
built in
the early 1930's but
since
its

closure in
1983, has not been in use. It was a thermal power station that had the
highest thermal efficiency of all power stations and provided one fifth
of London's total electricity supplies. Having served London for over
50 years, it has become an integral part of London's skyline and has
gained much affection from the general public. The Battersea Power
Station went through decades of failed attempts initiated by various
businessmen and investment group before a Consortium of Malaysian
investors made a bid to redevelop and regenerate the entire Battersea
Power Station and turn the whole 42 acre site, which is costing 8
billion to build, will house 3,992 apartments, three hotels and a
riverside park, prices in the development vary with studio flats
available from 495,000 while a penthouse is expected to cost 30
million.

The station was designed in the brick cathedral style of power station
design, which was popular at the time. Battersea is one of a very
small number of examples of this style of power station design still in
existence in the UK. The station's design proved popular straightaway,
and was described as a "temple of power".

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Planning concept

The Council gave planning consent on 11 November 2010. REO hoped

for construction to begin in 2011, but this has now been delayed to
2012. The station structure itself is expected to be repaired and
secure by 2016, with completion of the whole project by 2020. Plans
now include the construction of 3,400 apartments and 3,500,000square-foot (330,000 m2) of office apace. Approximately 28,000
inhabitants and 25,000 workers are expected to occupy the space
once complete. There are about 7 phases to be constructed on the
Battersea power station site, at the moment only the three of the
phases are specified and assigned to undergo construction and
construction in

Site and brief study as clues for potential design

intervention
Battersea power station using an architectural design has
been progressively replaced by engagement with systems
(Building Information Modelling). Digital computation and
the increasing power of computers have accelerated this
process and brought systems and the modelling of variables
and relationships into prominence. The development of
electronic computation in no way marks the birth of the
underlying ideas or thought processes around the systemic.
Architecture, like linguistic, literary, musical, numerical and
notational systems is a manifestation of the human
4

propensity to construct such pattern systems. But in the

context of this paper, the growth of a focused interest in
systems as the basis for architectural design representation
dates from the post-World War II period in concert with the
development of electronic computation.
In the systems paradigm, both the raw ingredients and the
organisational patterns of architecture remain substantially
geometrical, albeit with the opportunity to link too many
non-geometrical attributes.
Analytical drawing to articulate design parameter
In the construction of Battersea power station many things
have been considered for the construction of phases to be
accomplished.

As part of this exercise an investigation was made into the

coefficient of friction likely to occur between truck tyres and
the ground.

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Phase one of the site

The site is Located in the London borough of Wandsworth, the Nine

Elms area has a number of existing transport links in the surrounding
area with train tracks running adjacent to the phase one section, as
well as numerous bridges nearby to cross the river Thames The image
above highlights what areas are currently under activity Around the
north west and west side of the
Power station (Circus West) is where the phase one of construction is
occurring. As expected, there are multiple contractors and
subcontractors on site with an estimated of more then 900 members
of staff currently on site, it is fundamental that suitable health and
safety is maintained. There is currently a ratio of 8 operatives to a
supervisor and more then 40 first aiders are on site to ensure the
smooth day-to-day operations.
More then 16 months of construction is remaining on phase one; the
project is at a number of different stages across the site with the
apartment blocks having the services and some windows installed.
Being such a crowded area,
Pre-fabrication is being used a lot. Pre-fabrication is used to assemble
and manufacture components of a structure off site and then
transporting the complete assemblies to the site where they can be
fitted.
Most of the components of the buildings structure are chosen to be
fabricated because of the limited space and the number of contractors
on site.
6

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Deliveries are set to run with the schedule of work, any damages or
delivery delays will set the project back. The risk of potential damages
to the pre-fabricated component is a downfall of this method of
building Due to third parties being involved, the risks are increased,
however, the benefit of faster assembly and a clutter free work
environment outweighs the negatives. Therefore, it is considered
necessary and favorable by the contractor and clients.
As a result of the high volume of contractors involved and the limited
space available, a one way driving route around the site and a drop off
area for all deliveries has been set out This one way driving route is
required to ease the congestion on site. Upon delivery, the vehicles
wheels are cleaned after leaving the site so that no debris is dragged
out of the site. Once the materials have been delivered to the drop off
point, cranes are used to transport these materials around the
different areas and levels. Using this technique allows us to move
large quantities of materials quickly and easily without manpower
needed. Using this technique has its down side, especially in
wintertime. Cranes can easily be winded of, making progress slow and
some time the materials cannot be transferred to the areas where its
needed.
The Image below illustrates, multiple cranes are around the site, and
these cranes are transporting materials to various areas and levels.

Battersea power station site working to reduce traffic

and CO2 emission
As the site was an industrial land the constructors were dealing with
contaminated land. This meant that deep excavation was needed in
order to prepare the land for the forthcoming foundation work. More
than 100,000 lorries worth of waste was removed. Carillons used
Thames a means of their transport. They used Barges, which has
7

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loading capacity of 1000 tons, equals to 50 lorries. The waste was
removed with the barges; this method reduced the number of lorries
coming in and out the site buy around 30%. This method has eased
the traffic around the site, and reduced the impact of the work on the
local areas.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battersea_Power_Station. Last
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http://www.huhmagazine.co.uk/3865/battersea-power-stationsold. Last accessed 20-05-2015.
unknown . (unknown ). Battersea power station home prices
defying all logic. Available:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/28/batterseapower-station-home-prices-defying--logic. Last accessed 30-052015.