Historically the district between Vauxhall
and Battersea Power Station on London’s
south bank was a mixture of derelict wasteland
and industrial facilities – now it’s
home to one of the largest regeneration projects
in Europe. This is Nine Elms.
The Nine Elms area takes its name from a row
of elm trees that once lined the road side
into London. The £15BN (USD $19BN) new Nine
Elms development covers a staggering 227 hectares;
extending from Lambeth Bridge in the north,
down to Battersea Power Station and Chelsea
Bridge in the south.
It is in fact formed of numerous projects,
co-ordinated within an overall masterplan
under the eyes of Rafael Viñoly, Farrells, Allies and Morrison. Commercial and retail
facilities are joined by new schools, public
parks, some 20,000 new homes, extensive new
transport links, culture and arts facilities
and a new Thames bridge. All in they’ll
support community growth and create 25,000
new jobs in what’s being billed as a “vibrant
new area of the UK’s capital” and the
“last piece of the Central London jigsaw”.
Nine Elm’s boasts 3KM of Thames river frontage
and its prime location has driven considerable
investment, already lifting property prices
from miles around.
Work to construct the new district is expected
to create up to 22,000 construction jobs by
2022, with employment opportunities being
targeted at local residents to ensure that
existing communities in the area are among
the first to benefit.
The project is set to generate up to 1,000
construction and engineering apprenticeship
places for young Londoners; more than the
Crossrail and London Olympic projects combined.
Taking an under-populated area of a major
city, and turning it into a densely occupied
and heavily trafficked new zone demands significant
transport upgrades. As such, £1BN (around
to USD $1.3BN) is being invested into new links
including bus services, river bus piers, cycle
lanes and new footpaths. At the core is the
Northern Line extension.
The extension takes the Charing Cross branch
from Kennington and creates two new stations
in Zone 1; one to be called Nine Elms and
the other Battersea. An economic
study by Volterra in 2011 predicted that the
new link would bring £7.9BN (or USD $10BN) in
economic benefit to the area, significantly
recovering the investment made in its construction.
The extension is being delivered by the Ferrovial
Agroman / Laing O’Rourke (FLO) joint venture
and will bring the Nine Elms district to within
12 minutes of London’s square mile once
completed in 2020.
Other link upgrades include a new bridge over
the Thames – currently being designed by
Bystrup – to connect Nine Elms with Pimlico.
Its exact crossing point is still being determined.
To go through every aspect of the Nine Elms
development in a short video would be pretty
much impossible, but we are going to take
a look at some of the key projects helping to shape
London’s new district.
The star of the show is undoubtedly the regeneration
of Battersea Power Station, one of London’s
most iconic buildings and one of the world’s
largest brick structures.
Having generated power for 50 years between
1933 and 1983, the power station then sat
empty for almost three decades, only spared
demolition for its heritage. The building
increasingly fell into a state of dereliction
with only occasional events held on the site
and several ideas for converting it falling
through.
In 2012, a Malaysian consortium comprising
SP Setia, Sime Darby and Employees’ Provident
Fund invested £9BN – around USD $12BN  – into
the power station’s regeneration.
The new 42 acre development is managed by
the Battersea Power Station Development Company
and is split into several phases under Rafael
Viñoly’s master-plan.
The first is Circus West Village; two impressive
residential blocks designed by SimpsonHaugh
and Partners and de Rikje Marsh Morgan, and
constructed by Carillion. The properties are
supported by several new amenities including
retail spaces formed in the neighbouring railway
arches. You can learn more about this Phase
in our documentary on The B1M.
Phase 2 sees the regeneration of the power
station itself under designs by WilkinsonEyre
and main contractor Skanska. 254 new homes
will be formed in and around the power station’s
structure alongside commercial office facilities
and significant retail space.
The building’s iconic chimneys are being
carefully deconstructed and replaced like-for-like.
One will now include a lift up to an impressive
viewing platform.
In 2016, tech-giant Apple announced that they
would become the largest office tenant in
the rejuvenated power station by 2021, moving
1,400 employees to a whole six floors of the
central Boiler House.
Phase 3 certainly matches up to the iconic
nature of its predecessors and sees Gehry
Partners collaborating with Foster + Partners
to deliver a further 1,300 residences, a hotel,
retail and leisure facilities, and an entire
new high street. That street – set to be
called “Electric Boulevard” – will be
the main gateway to development, connecting
the new Northern Line extension station through
to the power station.
The subsequent phases will see a significant
amount of commercial office space delivered
alongside additional new homes.
Leaving the power station site behind for
a moment, one of the highest profile elements
of the wider district will see the United
States (US) Embassy relocated from its current
home in Grosvenor Square to a stunning
new structure in the heart of the Nine Elms development.
Following a detailed review that considered
a full refurbishment of the Grosvenor Square
site, the US State Department determined that
their goal of creating a modern, secure and
environmentally sustainable Embassy could
only be achieved by constructing a new facility.
The new structure was designed by Kieran Timberlake
and its construction is being overseen by
the US Bureau of Overseas Building Operations
for the State Department. Its design is intended
to celebrate freedom and democracy and will
be highly efficient once it becomes operational
in 2017.
Mexico are off the hook for this one as the
entire project is funded by the sale of other
US-owned properties in London.
Close to the Embassy itself, Embassy Gardens
is one of the most prominent residential elements
of the Nine Elms scheme. Designed by Arup
Associates and developed by Ballymore, the
project provides high-end properties supported
by almost every on-site amenity one could
ever want, including an impressive sky-pool
between two of the residential towers, the
first of its kind in London.
Embassy Gardens’ competition in the high-end
residential stakes comes in the form of One
Nine Elms, a stunning new pair of skyscrapers
designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates fresh
from their achievements at Hudson Yards in
New York. The towers rise to 58 and 43 storeys
respectively and will house a 5-star hotel
alongside 487 new residences.
The existing New Covent Garden Market is home
to over 200 fruit, vegetable and flower traders
employing 2,500 people. Its set to undergo
a makeover as part of the Nine Elms regeneration
creating over half a million square feet of
market facilities alongside an exciting new
food quarter. The works will release 20 acres
of land for the development of a new residential
community.
Works toward the top of the Nine Elms district,
will see the Vauxhall Gyratory overhauled
to create a more pedestrian-friendly experience
and Vauxhall itself given a clearer identity
and recognisable centre, improving its appeal
as a gateway to the city.
The Nine Elms neighbourhood will feature significant
areas of green public space, including an
improved Thames river path. Most notable is
“Linear Park”, a green artery sweeping
through the masterplan and appearing in phases
as different projects along its route reach
completion. The park is similar to the high-line
park that passes through Hudson Yards in Manhattan
and is intended to create a car-free link
between Battersea Power Station and Vauxhall.
You would expect any project of this scale
to have its controversies and Nine Elms is
no different. Whilst the local economy and
community are set to grow, that can be unsettling
for many who have called the area home for
their whole lives and who are understandably
anxious about change.
There’s also been significant debate around
the amount of high-end residential properties
formed across the site, as compared to the
amount of affordable housing delivered, leading
some to question how well it can really integrate
into the existing community. The same debates
swirled around the vast Hudson Yards development
in New York and 432 Park Avenue; Manhattan’s
tallest new residential tower.
Disagreements aside, Nine Elms enjoys strong
support and is set to make a profound social
and economic impact on one of the world’s
largest cities. It preserves heritage and
community whilst turning a derelict and under-utilised
riverside district into a vibrant new destination.
A truly iconic development that will shape
London and the lives of its citizens for generations
to come.
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