“If Fort Dunlop can be made to work, then so can Battersea Power Station.”
This was what Tom Bloxham told me at Estates Gazette’s Manchester reception on Wednesday night.
The Urban Splash founder wasn’t making a play for the distressed, south-west London asset. He was making a point that other neglected landmarks in far less desirable postcodes have been renewed. Not least the former tyre warehouse on the outskirts of Birmingham that he delivered in 2006.
So why not the power station? Sadly, as Bloxham himself recognises, the reality is far more complex. Lloyds and Nama are owed £324m. The site’s previous owner, Victor Hwang, a junior lender, would still like to see his £178m back. Meanwhile, no one buys Treasury Holdings’ most recent valuation of £498m, made in late 2010, with one interested party suggesting £200m was a more realistic sale price. Something substantial has to give.
But despite these travails, work around the power station is gathering momentum.
An encouraging sign is that ambitions set a decade ago to bring a Manhattan skyline to the Nine Elms and Vauxhall area are beginning to come to fruition.
More significantly, the government and the Greater London Authority are thrashing out plans to create a Nine Elms enterprise zone. It is a step that could unlock the financing of the Northern Line extension from Kennington down to the power station itself by allowing tax increment financing to deliver the £850m needed. Ducks, as deputy mayor Sir Edward Lister tells EG this week, are being put into a row.
Meanwhile, Wandsworth council – which Sir Edward led before moving to City Hall – is ready to recommend plans by Ballymore to develop Embassy Gardens. A new neighbourhood of up to 2,000 homes and more than 500,000 sq ft of offices and flexible workspace is planned. The political will is there – and it would of course sit next door to the five-acre site sold by the Irish developer to the US Embassy in 2009 – but is the financial capability?
Should all of these strands be pulled together, could the redevelopment of the power station be delivered? Well, the sale price and the debts would need to be settled. But at that point a developer with Bloxham’s vision might find his appetite whetted, possibly in a joint venture with a partner able to take a long-term view. An Argent, say.
OK, the names may not be right. But that is the combined mentality that is required to make the site work.
From our annual awards to LandAid Day itself, Estates Gazette supports the property industry’s charity at a number of events throughout the year. In two weeks’ time we are supporting a new LandAid event, the CBRE Property Peak Challenge. This exclusive race will see competitors sprint, run or walk up 888 steps to the 37th floor of the iconic Heron Tower, the tallest in the City of London. There is still time to enter the race via www.landaid.com. And one final plug: A squad boasting some of the fittest members of the Estates Gazette team – as well as myself – will be tackling the climb. To sponsor us go to www.doitforcharity.com/HannahL.
EG’s thanks and best wishes go to John And Sandi Murdoch, who are standing down after almost 34 years of contributing Legal Notes to the magazine. Legal Notes will continue in the capable hands of James Driscoll – already a contributor on residential cases – and Allyson Colby, our existing Practice Notes contributor.
