Powerhouse
Farrells completes the 15-year transformation of Lots Road Power Station – the ‘cathedral of the industrial age’ – into Chelsea Waterfront’s Powerhouse.
Photos
Andy Stagg, BAYA Interiors, Chelsea Waterfront, FBC London
Farrells has completed the 15-year transformation of the Lots Road Power Station – the oldest of London’s three historic power stations and the last to be developed. Designed by American engineer James Russell Chapman, Lots Road Power Station was revered as the ‘cathedral of the industrial age’, supplied energy to the London Underground for almost a century and keept the capital moving even during the Blitz of the Second World War.
A triumph of engineering when it was built in 1902, Lots Road was the largest power station ever constructed, with 275-foot-high chimneys – the tallest in Europe at the time. Often described as the ‘design grandfather’ of Battersea Power Station, it was the first large-scale steel structure in the UK, wrought from nearly 6,000 tonnes of steel, and the biggest generator of electricity. The station consumed 700 tonnes of coal each day, ferried by river barges.
Unusually for a power station, the building’s brick elevations were punctured by vast, elegant arched windows, allowing natural light to penetrate into the cavernous depths of the huge structure. Its two halls were clad in rich red brick. A band of raised circles ran along the building, just under the roof line – a final architectural flourish, on what is now celebrated as a proto-modernist masterpiece.
After it closed in 2002, the power station was bought by Hong Kong developer CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd, which has spent more than two decades on its restoration and development. In its new incarnation, the building has been rebranded as Powerhouse, a 260-apartment residential enclave described as the ‘cornerstone’ of a Chelsea Waterfront, a 700-home 8.85-acre regeneration project lying alongside the River Thames and Chelsea Creek. The repurposing of the power station and the wider Chelsea Waterfront masterplan, represent the most extensive and remarkable transformation in the The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in living memory.
Powerhouse’s two chimneys, which have been restored, stand at approximately 275 feet (84 meters) tall. Designed to be open at their bases, visitors can walk inside and look up to the elements streaming through the vertical shafts. Positioned at the East and West end of the building, each chimney is connected to the development by new pedestrian and cycle bridges across creek. The remaining two chimneys have been repurposed as retail units and integrated into the atrium design.
The vast interior of the turbine hall has been turned into a 100-metre atrium designed as an intimate ‘mews’ street, lined with shops, restaurants, and leisure spaces and book-ended by two concierges. Designed by Fiona Barratt-Campbell, the atrium is inspired by the building’s industrial past and filled with natural light.
Towering evergreen trees stand in the spots once occupied by the building’s turbines, while water troughs flow through the central space, symbolising the creation of steam. Suspended above, an extraordinary lighting installation resembling an ‘electrical current’ pays homage to the building’s original purpose: generating power. The solid granite reception desk was inspired by the coal that was once the building’s primary power generating source.
As the only London power station to be built with windows, Chelsea Waterfront Powerhouse was well-suited to conversion to residential use. A 260-home apartment complex has been built within the industrial shell – a process that involved the relocation of two million bricks. While the project includes 61 affordable homes, the majority of the apartments are for private sale, with prices from around £1.9 million for a two-bedroom flat. Designed by a collection of designers including Morpheus & Co and a BLOCC Interiors’ new luxury design studio, BAYA, the apartments enjoy spectacular views across the Thames. If the rumour mill is to be believed, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has bagged himself a riverfront penthouse for around £30 million.
As well as Powerhouse, the Chelsea Waterfront development includes two towers of 37 and 25 storeys, also by Farrells: Tower West and Tower East, both designed in a diamond shape to provide panoramic views of London’s skyline and both sides of the river. The project also includes low-rise housing on the water’s edge, giving a total of ten buildings and 700 mixed-tenure homes. Three new bridges spanning Chelsea Creek connect the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea with the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, opening up public pathways for the first time in a century. The buildings are surrounded by landscaped gardens designed by Randle Siddeley, which are publicly accessible, opening up 400m of waterfront to the public.
Isabel Allen2025-01-16T16:21:19+00:00
Related Posts
Source: Architecture Today
