The future of London's biggest
building site has become clearer after the latest concept images were released for the Nine Elms area on the south bank of the Thames.
With 20,000 homes under construction and more than £15bn being invested in the area, the triangle of land on the borders of Lambeth and Wandsworth is undergoing a rapid transformation.
It will include two town centres near Vauxhall and Battersea Power Station and two tube stations on a new spur of the Northern Line. The embassies for the USA and Netherlands will also move into the area.
As well as a bird's-eye view of the 195-hectare development, the new concept images also show Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and a tree-lined boulevard that will link one end of Nine Elms to the other.
The development has proven controversial, with many of the new properties priced out of the reach of regular Londoners. A studio flat in the redeveloped Battersea Power Station will cost £495,000 with a four-bedroom apartment priced at £3.2 million. Penthouses are reported to cost as much as £30m.
Of the planned 3,444 new homes at the power station only 560 will be affordable. The building's £8bn facelift, led by its Malaysian owners, will also see the constructions of new offices and shops.
The Battersea Power Station project is expected to be completed in 2020, with other parts of the development opening during the next five to ten years.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
