Battersea Power Station to get pop-up park

Battersea Power Station will get its own interim park and picnic area by this summer, it was announced yesterday.

Once finished, the temporary park will be will be open as “often as possible” depending on construction timetables, Wandsworth Council said.

The move has been warmly welcomed by residents who have been worried that the landmark construction project would impact their areas.

The £6bn Battersea Power Station redevelopment project, started last year, is expected to be completed in phases over 10 years. It includes a six acre green area, which is not scheduled for completion until later in the decade.

When finished, the riverside walk will be lined with cafes, restaurants and shops.

“A new riverside park would be a major attraction in its own right but this one will be right alongside one of the capital’s most iconic buildings,” Wandsworth Council’s planning chairman Nick Cuff said in a statement.  

“It will be the first time Londoners have been able to set foot on the site and get a close up view of the power station.

“The temporary park will be one of the first pieces of new public space created in Nine Elms. By the time the regeneration programme is complete the temporary park will have been replaced with an even larger, permanent park which will open up a whole new stretch of the South Bank and created a fantastic network of green space.”