U.K.'s Battersea Power Station to go green

London's Battersea Power Station could be coming back to life under a plan unveiled today by Jersey-registered Real Estate Opportunities (LON: REO) valued at £4 billion, or $8 billion.

The landmark power station has been offline and mostly disused for the past 25 years, but the new project calls for 8 million square feet of residential, office and retail space on the 38 acre site, including a combined cooling, heat and power plant using biofuels, waste and other renewable feedstocks, and a natural ventilation system.

"We'll be using two of the chimneys as flues for generation from renewable sources," Ian Lindsley, spokesman for Treasury Holdings, told the Cleantech Group.

Dublin-based Treasury Holdings is the development manager for the project and holds a 67 percent stake in Real Estate Opportunities.

Real Estate Opportunities grabbed the Battersea Power Station site from Hong Kong's Oriental Property in 2006 for £400 million.

The largest brick building in Europe, the power station, with its four tall chimneys, has appeared on the cover of the Pink Floyd album "Animals," and has served as the backdrop for numerous movies and television shows, including "Doctor Who," and as a location for the new Batman film, "The Dark Knight."

Take a look at the power station here >>

The condition of the 1930s building is considered to be "very bad" according to the government's English Heritage group.

Real Estate Opportunities is planning to spend £150 million, or $296.5 million, on saving and repairing the power station, which sits on the south bank of the River Thames.

The power station was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed the classic red telephone box.

Real Estate Opportunities said key historic spaces in the power station would be retained and open to the public, with the building being developed to incorporate hotel, residential and retail space.

In addition to using renewable energy, the real estate developer plans to use green construction ideas in the project.

"We've got a solar powered, naturally ventilated system, which will basically remove the need for air conditioning in the commercial buildings," said Lindsley.

The planned 300 meter high solar chimney would be set alongside the power plant, soaring almost three times as high as the existing chimneys.

The concept works by using passive solar energy to heat the chimney during the day, creating an updraft of air.

Real Estate Opportunities said the chimney would draw air up through a campus of individual office buildings which will be covered by an Eco-Dome.

The company said up to 3,000 cubic meters per second of air would be drawn through the system on a sunny day, reducing energy demand in the buildings by 67 percent.

The new chimney structure will also house apartments with panoramic views of London, according to the company.

The project also includes a six acre public park, a riverside walk and an urban square.

Previous proposals for redevelopment at the site have fallen through, including a plan back in the 1980s for an indoor theme park, but the current developers express confidence that their project will go forward.

Lindsley said the group has a track record of doing similar projects, though not on the same scale.

"Very similar one certainly in Ireland," he said. "We've delivered a similar project called Spencer Dock."

Covering 20 hectares of land in Dublin, Spencer Dock is expected to have 700,000 square meters of accommodation when complete in 2014.

"We're also involved in the Dongtan Eco City in Shanghai."

The eco city, which should be finished by 2010, is being built on Chongming Island, and is expected to include approximately 4.2 million square meters of mixed accommodation using sustainable construction.

Planning permission for the Battersea project is expected to take two to three years, with construction scheduled to start by 2012.

Lindsley said, "The power station should be itself open probably about 2015, and the total project should done by 2020."