With the economic climate wobbly, funding scarce and political dithering rife, it was a blessed relief this week to see an act of towering ambition backed by bold, decisive action.
The completion of the £400m purchase of Battersea Power Station by a Malaysian consortium was something to behold. In a series of carefully orchestrated set-pieces, SP Sethia, Sime Derby and the Employees Provident Fund did much to convince that this time the redevelopment of an asset that is as troubled as it is iconic really would go ahead.
There will be cranes on site by the end of the year, they said. A reserved matters application will be lodged with Wandsworth council by October. The public will gain access to a new park on site by next spring. And 800 phase-one flats will be sold by next September. They are not hanging around.
Hints were also dropped that the replacement of the four chimneys with identical replicas may happen ahead of schedule. Public authorities do not want to see all four come down at once, understandably fearful that they may never go back up. Given that it takes nine months to replace each one, that alone would be a three-year project. The newly formed Battersea Power Station Development Company hopes to demonstrate it can be trusted to tackle more than one at a time and shave years off the planned 15-year redevelopment.
With ex-Treasury Holdings CEO Rob Tincknell leading a familiar team, and detailed planning consents in place, the Newco will hit the ground running. And, given the recent history of Asian money flowing into London and the need for it to continue, this time Battersea is a project that is surely too big to fail.
Congratulations to all the firms shortlisted in this year’s Estates Gazette Awards. For a list of those who will be fighting it out on 13 December at the London Park Lane Hilton go to www.egawardsevent.co.uk. Our judges wrestled with an outstanding crop of entries, so good luck to all those who have made it through. We will reveal three further shortlists- Young Professional, Occupier and Business Launch of the Year – in two weeks’ time.
There has been wholesale change at the department for Communities and Local Government. Secretary of state Eric Pickles remains in place, but every other minister has been replaced. Housing minister Grant Shapps has been promoted to Conservative Party chair. In comes former business minister – and chartered surveyor – Mark Prisk. Planning minister Greg Clark heads for the Treasury, replaced by ministerial debutant and wonk Nick Boles. Local government minister Bob Neill and Andrew Stunell leave government.
What will be the consequences? In truth, who knows? Planning reform continues even though the man holding the ministerial briefcase has changed. But such wholesale turnover is bound to bring uncertainty, even if the new faces turn out to be the right ones for the long-run. Watch this space.
From this week you will be able to read Estates Gazette each week on iPad. We have kept the magazine format – but made it better. Subscribers will be able to link directly from stories to comprehensive information held in EGi’s 635,000- strong building report database. You will find additional video content – for instance, this week on the relaunch of the Battersea Power Station project. And, like our existing digital edition, the iPad edition will be available on Fridays – 24 hours before the print edition lands. To subscribe, go to www.estatesgazette.com/tablet.
And speaking of iPads, the Estates Gazette team will be at next week’s BCSC’s conference in Liverpool in force, publishing digital daily editions. The dailies will be available on Tuesday and Wednesday – for iPad and online – with a full review edition to follow. You may already have seen our preview edition, and the autumn retail supplement with this issue also looks ahead to this important event. Full coverage at wordpress.egi.co.uk.
