The first section of Battersea Power Station is now complete, and residents have moved into Grade II* listed building Switch House West. Once the location of the Power Station’s main switch gear, laboratory, battery and assembly rooms, it has now undergone a complete restoration by lead architect WilkinsonEyre.
The functional and the domestic merge in a space which maintains as many original features as possible. Remaining faithful to the building’s industrial history while rethinking the structure, the addition of three new floors added to the top now contain three-bedrooms apartments complete with private terrace. Studios and two-bedroom apartments, complete with the original brick and steel, are in the original building, with outside space to be found in both the two internal courtyards and a garden on top of Turbine Hall A. Interior architects Michaelis Boyd have configured the layouts of the apartments which centre around the riverside views offered from the Crittall floor to ceiling windows.
The interiors nod to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s original vision in two parts: the first phase of the Power Station, Battersea A, completed in 1933, is reflected in design details including the herringbone flooring in Control Room A. The second phase, Battersea B, was completed in 1955 and inspires the stripped-back industrial aesthetic of the building as a whole.
‘This is a key milestone for us in the long project to restore this beautiful building,’ says Sebastien Ricard, project director at WilkinsonEyre. ‘This celebrated industrial architecture, its epic scale complemented by refined contemporary details, now accommodates dwellings all slightly different in proportion, views, and configuration of indoor and outdoor space, including spectacular private terraces. The offer is unique both in terms of the Battersea Power Station development and the wider London market.’ Adds Simon Murphy, chief executive officer at Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC): ‘The completion of Switch House West is a huge achievement and one of many key milestones in what will be the most transformational year yet in the regeneration of Battersea Power Station.’
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