Just. Have. Faith. That’s Rob Tincknell’s message to anyone still unconvinced that the £8bn Battersea Power Station redevelopment project is finally primed, poised and ready to go.
But while the chief executive of the Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC) is supremely confident – “I don’t think anyone doubts that the project is going to happen this time” – others might argue that, considering the site’s infamous back story, putting their faith in this scheme yet again is a pretty big ask.
The power station has been at the heart of one of the longest-running sagas in UK property history, its gradual fall into disrepair on the banks of the Thames over the past 30 years an eerie and very public reminder of a string of failed attempts to salvage a London icon.
It was always going to take a lot to reassure everyone from the property industry through to the general public that “the Everest of development” was finally on track. But the £400m sale of the station development to a Malaysian consortium in July combined with the new US Embassy getting planning consent might just be enough.
Here the man behind the development of London’s most hotly anticipated scheme explains what the revamped 1.8m sq ft space will mean for Vauxhall, Nine Elms and the property sector. And he defends his position as chief executive of a company that was set up to replace Treasury Holdings, the site’s former developer, which he ran up until last year before it went into administration with debts of €2.7bn.
What a difference a year makes
The Battersea story has been one of London’s property sore points since the early 1980s. Over the past 30 years, four owners with grand plans have come and gone and, last December, the site collapsed into administration as a result of outstanding debt owed by its then owner, Real Estates Opportunities (REO), to Lloyds and Nama. It would be fair to say that things looked bleak this time last year. But now, thanks to the backing of the Malaysian consortium made up of SP Setia, Sime Darby and Employees Provident Fund, the scheme has picked up fresh momentum and Tincknell, 45, says, quite categorically, that work will have begun on site by next September.
“I can understand why people might still wonder whether Battersea Power Station will happen,” he concedes. “But now we have a robust transportation system secured, planning consent for 8.1m sq ft around the scheme, which was the biggest consent secured in central London, and shareholders with financial firepower. These are all things which have changed in the last year and that’s what makes it different this time around.”
The catalyst for action has come just in time. John Drew, from architecture practice Pringle Brandon Drew, worked with Rafael Viñoly on the project’s masterplan back in 2007. In February 2011 he said: “If that building is exposed to the elements for much longer, there is a serious concern that it won’t last. Already, there are huge cost overheads in the restoration and at some point you have to ask, ‘Has this deterioration become undoable?’”
Indeed, restoring the power station – it will cost an estimated £12m to replace the chimneys alone – will involve a huge additional outlay. But Tincknell says that the eventual value of the power station brand will counterbalance the up-front costs.
“The power station is worth so much as an international icon. It is our authenticity. Without it we would be just another new-build scheme along the River Thames. Why would you get rid of it? The power station stacks up financially. The strong brand means that the residential element should attract a premium above the price for the new-build around it. The power station has extra costs attributed to it but its eventual value will outweigh these.”
He won’t be drawn on exact pricing for the 800 flats, including 175 within the power station itself, planned for the scheme’s phase-one development. But they will be aimed at “the wealthier buyer”. The power station brand, combined with the views, the planned residential amenities and, of course, the Malaysian owners are expected to attract international high rollers.
Keeping the lights on
But there will be a fixed allocation for the phase-one apartments across the world with just under half reserved for UK buyers. “Battersea Power Station is an international project and London is an international city but we don’t want this to be a development full of apartments with the lights off,” says Tincknell. “So there will be a cross-section allocation of units prioritising UK buyers.”
But will he prioritise UK agents? Whispers that much of the selling will be done in-house have started to circulate. “We will do some of it ourselves, as our partners have a huge sales organisation in the Far East. So in certain markets it will be in-house and in others we will be using agents. That’s agents plural.”
He is unable to reveal any more details yet but adds that he will be expanding his in-house team rapidly. “I took on 15 new people in the past two months and we will peak at 65 in-house in 2015. I am looking for developers, planners, project managers, engineers, QSs and M&E guys.”
As for controversies over the phasing of the scheme, Tincknell is – once again – adamant that things are different now. “We are hoping to coincide phases two and three to coordinate with the Northern Line extension. Phase two will most likely start in 2014. We won’t be running phases back to back but overlapping them.”
Facing the critics
While the plans for the new power station have so far been met with broad approval and faith appears to have, once more, been renewed, some have argued that Tincknell’s appointment to head BPSDC was surprising. He was at the helm of Treasury Holdings for nearly seven years, where not much visible progress was made on site.
“A surprise? Was it a surprise? Well – it’s great to be able to continue here,” he says, momentarily tongue-tied. “I’m not sure I would call it a surprise, no,” he says, quickly recovering. “In terms of Treasury, one has to look at the reason why the project went into administration. It was not because there was anything wrong with the team, the planning or the project but because the majority of the shareholders were in Ireland and the Irish property market plummeted by 70%. The banks were no longer willing to support the scheme and that’s the primary reason it fell into administration.”
As for concerns over Vauxhall’s potential to be considered central enough to house prime London property, Tincknell isn’t having a word of it. “It’s so central it’s ridiculous,” he says. “I think the UK property industry has been caught napping regarding Nine Elms – UK developers own just five of the 204 acres here. When the US Embassy decided to locate here there were a lot of raised eyebrows but the Americans realised the potential. I think people will eventually turn around and say ‘this is amazing’.”
And until then? Well – everyone will just have to keep the faith.
Battersea Power station timeline
1983 Battersea Power Station closed and subsequently decommissioned
1984 The first owner, John Broome, the man behind Alton Towers, plans to build an indoor theme park
1989 Theme park project is halted owing to a lack of funding, but not before the removal of the roof, which leaves the structure severely weakened
1993 Development company Parkview International, backed by the Hwang family, purchases outstanding loans and acquires the freehold
2003 Parkview start on a £1.1bn project to restore the building and redevelop the 38-acre site into a retail, housing and leisure complex
2006 Real Estate Opportunities (REO) purchases the plan for £400m from the Hong Kong developer Victor Hwang
August 2009 REO directors state that there are “material uncertainties” concerning the company’s ability to continue following the financial crisis
Feb 2011 The £5.5bn plans, designed by Rafael Viñoly, the biggest ever submitted in Central London, gain planning permission
December 2011 The Battersea Power Station site goes into administration as a result of outstanding debt owed by REO to Lloyds and Nama
July 2012 Sale of the project to a Malaysian consortium comprising SP Setia, Sime Darby and Employees Provident Fund for £400m renews faith in the scheme
