First phase of Battersea Power Station launched

LONDON (Jan 9): The Malaysian joint-venture consortium for the £8 billion Battersea Power Station launched the UK sales programme for the first phase of the iconic development on Jan 9.

The consortium comprises S P Setia Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund. The first phase of the project named Circus West has a gross development value of £900 million.

It is a mix of 800 units comprising one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments,townhouses and penthouses as well as a blend of offices, shops and leisure and hospitality facilities.

Prices start from £338,000 for a studio; £423,000 for a one-bedroom, £613,000 for a two-bedroom and £894,000 for a three-bedroom apartment; and £6 million for a penthouse unit, with first occupancy expected to be in 2016.

Battersea Power Station Development Co. project manager Rob Tincknell said the UK sales programme will be followed by sales exhibitions around the world in the coming weeks.

He said the Malaysia sales programme will be held at Setia International Centre, Kuala Lumpur on Jan 12 followed by Singapore and Hong Kong.

"I'm confident this project will be well received and everybody around the world will get an opportunity to buy," he said at a press conference here.

Tincknell said construction work on the first phase, which consists of eight core buildings, has already begun, with construction expected to commence in the second half of 2013.

"This will coincide with the start of the renovation of the Grade 11 listed power station, the largest brick building in Europe and one of the most significant surviving examples of art deco architecture. Completion of the first phase of the development is expected in 2016," he said.

Circus West at Battersea Power Station, situated on the western side of the power station, will be a thriving new community where people come to live, work, socialise and spend their leisure time, Tincknell said

He said the London borough of Wandsworth granted detailed planning permission for Phase One of the Battersea Power Station development on Dec 13, 2012.

This followed the Autumn Statement on Dec 5, 2012, in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed the UK government's support for a £1 billion loan and a guarantee to extend the Northern Line to Nine Elms and Battersea Power
Station.

This site -- comprising 57 per cent commercial and 43 per cent residential components -- provides large areas of public open space including a new riverside park that will provide direct access to Battersea Park and Chelsea via a new riverside pathway adjoining the existing River Thames Walk.

Besides the residential component, it will have art galleries, a Power Station design shop, independent coffee shops, a boutique theatre, creative business studios, a gym, an indoor swimming pool and a health spa. - Bernama