Battersea Business Quarter
In 2019 Wandsworth Council - then controlled by the Conservative Party - commissioned a study of an industrial and commercial area to the south-west of Nine Elms and the Power Station. The study produced a framework for the development of the area which falls into three distinct parts:
Havelock Terrace
Ingate Place and
the mainly industrial area to the east of Silverthorne Road.
Together, these areas form a key part of the famous (notorious?) Battersea Tangle formed by railway lines which form barriers between the three sites. Partly as a result, they form a sharp contrast to the new developments around Nine Elms and the Power Station. Land use in the first two is particularly mixed, with a strong light industrial offer, including workshop space; studio space; showroom space; self storage and food preparation and logistics; creative studio and showroom space; self storage and food preparation and logistics. Heavy industry/aggregate and transport/facilities sites dominate Silverthorne Road, although Battersea Studios and other smaller plots house creative and other lighter industries such as florists. The framework aimed to build on the design community already existing nearby (Foster and Partners, Vivienne Westwood, and the Royal College of Art); and the imminent move of Apple into the Power Station.
In 2022, two years after the production of the framework, little progress had been made, and new consultants were commissioned to produce a vision and then a delivery plan for what was termed the Battersea Design and Technology Quarter (BDTQ). Progress since then has remained slow, and it was not helped by changes made at a late stage to the draft Local Plan in order to protect the concrete, agregates, railway and other industrial uses on the Silverthorne Road site. But a new officer has been appointed at the Council to take the lead in further work, and a Steering Goup of key businesses and stakeholders has been appointed, with representation from the Society.
The first fruits of this work - apart from a renaming of the area as Battersea Business Quarter - will shortly be produced in the form of a new study on possible improvements to the public realm in and around the area. Early suggestions (indicated in the map above) include improvements to the entrances to the Silverthorne Road site, to Ingate Place and to the area around Queenstown Road station, and to the roads and pavements around Havelock Terrace. Proposals for establishing connections between the three sites will take much longer. The Society will keep a close watch on developments, along with our colleagues in the local community group Battersea Untangled.