Battersea Power Station formally for sale on the open market

The Grade II listed former power station is situated on the south bank of the River Thames and is within the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area. The site has been billed as the last major undeveloped regeneration site in central London.

The 39.1 acre site has planning permission for a £5 billion redevelopment, which was granted by Wandsworth Council last year. The proposals, put forward by the site's previous owner Treasury Holdings, include homes, offices, a hotel, retail and leisure facilities.

"The building is also the figurehead for one of London’s most ambitious regeneration programmes (Nine Elms), and gives the entire area a unique sense of place as well as putting it on the map," said Stephan Miles-Brown, head of residential development at Knight Frank. "The scheme combines a 39.1 acre freehold site in a prominent central London riverside location and will include London’s first new public park for many years."

 “Battersea Power Station's next owner will have to take a creative and long-term approach to its future and we are excited that the open sale process will present just such a developer,” said Miles-Brown.

"The cost of the northern line tube extension is the first key issue which needs to be unlocked for whoever takes on the scheme," said Richard Ford, a planning law expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. "The phasing of contributions in the existing planning permission will need to be scrutinised. The Mayor or Department for Transport ought to look seriously at guaranteeing the delivery of the northern line tube extension which would instil confidence. Terry Farrell's scheme which looks at part demolition of the power station building itself is also eye-catching."

The former power station is Europe's largest brick building and is Grade II listed. It has been vacant since it was decommissioned in 1983.

Nine Elms is the most centrally located regeneration opportunity area in London and is situated within the London borough of Lambeth and the London borough of Wandsworth on the south bank of the River Thames.

It is identified as an Opportunity Area in the London Plan, which is an area that London Mayor Boris Johnson has identified as having the potential to accommodate a substantial number of new jobs and homes.

The Mayor's planning framework for the area, which includes part of neighbouring Vauxhall, predicts that up to 16,000 new homes and 25,000 new jobs will be created as the site is developed.