Battersea

Battersea is a riverside village located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The area is very entwined within Clapham. The area of Clapham Junction is strictly in Battersea and the boundary runs along Lavender Hill. However, the preferred and truest area of Battersea is formed by the residential roads immediately around Battersea Park. The Park extends to 200 acres and comprises beautiful parkland and river frontage, a Zoo, Sports Centre with running tracks and squash courts along with the ubiquitous playing fields.

The Park forms the centre of the community and the pull of the Park is not localised. It hosts many London events, many of which are sport and exercise related. The Formula E (Electric Formula One) and the Affordable Art Fair have become stalwarts within the Park.

The housing stock in Battersea is very mixed. Battersea like much of London suffered from bomb damage during the war years but the great majority of homes are Victorian and Edwardian (similar to most of south west London). Prince of Wales Drive is formed of victorian mansion  buildings which have always provoked a premium.

However, one cannot mention Battersea without thinking of the Power Station. At one time the largest brick construction in Europe. Now, it forms the centre peice of an extensive urban regeneration programme. Battersea Park and the entire Nine Elms area is undergoing one of the largest redevelopment programmes London has ever witnessed.  The proposal is to create a new “community” in the old industrial area of Nine Elms. The regeneration programme has seen the American Embassy relocated, followed by other countries embassies. This area now comprises in the region of 29 new build flat schemes, all of varying architecture. Some of the schemes are complete, others yet to commence. The end plan is to provide over 5,000 new homes in this former industrial area of south-west London.