In this post we will be taking a trip to a famous heritage site on the River Thames in London, England. This is a real-world case study that exemplifies the intricate interplay between private developers, local governments, and the facade of affordable housing.
Our lens focuses on the transformation currently unfolding in Wandsworth Borough, London, specifically the Vauxhall, Nine Elms, and Battersea (VNEB) Opportunity Area planning framework (OAPF). This urban renewal program is overseeing the redevelopment of the iconic Battersea Power Station, backed by approximately $9 billion in foreign investment (Battersea Power Station Development Company, 2023).
Figure 1: Location of the Battersea Power Station in London, England.
Figure 2: the Battersea Power Station - Circus Rd W, Nine Elms, London SW11 8DD, UK.
The Grade II listed Battersea Power Station, a protected heritage site, is undergoing a radical metamorphosis from an industrial area into a bustling local town center, complete with residences, commercial establishments, and public spaces (UK Government, 2023). Split into 8 phases, the power station will be the 2nd to open to the public as soon as it completes its transition into a home for Apple’s new London Campus, a mall with hundreds of new shops housed in the historic turbines’ halls, a 2000 capacity event venue as well as providing hundreds of new homes (UK Government, 2023).
Figure 3: Highlighting proximity of new development to Patmore Estate.
Yet, what draws our attention is the adjacency of this development to the Patmore affordable state housing estate. This proximity highlights the impending transformation of land values in the area, stoking concerns of gentrification. This case study neatly illustrates how private capital influx into urban redevelopment projects has been a driving force behind gentrification in London, much like the transformations in Canary Wharf and the Docklands (Butler, 2003).
In "Class Constitution through Spatial Reconstruction? A Re-evaluation of Gentrification in Australia, Britain, and the United States" Peter Williams' exploration of gentrification as class constitution resonates with the evolving social dynamics in Battersea. The class distinctions in housing form and the new consumption circuit depicted by Williams find echoes in the rising rental costs and prohibitive property prices associated with the Battersea Power Station redevelopment.
The rental housing stock offered at the Battersea Power Station, marketed as "affordable," comes with monthly price tags ranging from £2,000 to £7,000 (R46 500 to R163 000). Ownership is even more prohibitive, with studio apartments starting at £550,000 and ultra-luxury Sky Villas exceeding £7 million (I will not be converting those numbers...) (Battersea Power Station Development Company, 2023).
Figure 4: The envisioned complete development surrounding the Power Station (retrieved from: )
This redevelopment is situated in one of London's 47 "Opportunity Areas," a part of the Central London Growth Corridor initiative. Paradoxically, this development fits perfectly into London's housing crisis, one that has steadily seen the average home prices go from £24,000 in 1978 to nearly half a million pounds in 2018 (Government, UK, 2023).
This case study vividly portrays how the trends and forces shaping gentrification in London pose profound problems for urban planning. Escalating property prices and rental levels have led to the displacement of long-time residents and the erosion of community bonds, echoing Atkinson's notion of the "hidden costs" of profit-driven development (Atkinson, 2000).
In conclusion, the dance between private developers and local governments, cloaked in the promise of affordable housing, underscores the blatant nature of gentrification’s latest manifestation. One where agencies for the public are all but powerless in the face of big business, one where the term “affordable housing” means relative to what your ultra-rich neighbors paid for a 360-view of London and not relative to the average income level of the city you reside in.
The following YouTube video delves into deeper detail on the case study mentioned above:
Why are cities so expensive – The B1M
Reference List:
Atkinson, R. (2000). The hidden costs of gentrification: Displacement in central London. Journal of housing and the built environment, 15, 307-326.
Butler, T. (2003). Living in the bubble: gentrification and its 'others' in North London. Urban studies, 40(12), 2469-2486.
Carpenter, J. and Lees, L. (1995). Gentrification in New York, London and Paris: an international comparison. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 19, 286-286.
UK Government. (2023). Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area. [Online] Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/planning/implementing-london-plan/londons-opportunity-areas/oa-locations/vauxhall-nine-elms-battersea-opportunity-area
Government, UK. (2023). HM Land Registry. [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry
Battersea Power Station Development Company. (2023). Building Battersea The Master Plan. [Online] Available at: https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk/about/building-battersea-the-masterplan/?_its=JTdCJTIydmlkJTIyJTNBJTIyZjBhYmU3NTEtNGJmYy00Y2JiLTkxZDItZDdiMmYxM2U3YzgyJTIyJTJDJTIyc3RhdGUlMjIlM0ElMjJybHR%2BMTY5NTg2MTMwN35sYW5kfjJfMTAwMzE5X3Nlb19hMWY4NmZjNzEzNTQzYThmZmE
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