The new Prospect Park children’s playground and park area at Battersea Power Station was officially opened last week by the Mayor of Wandsworth, Councillor Richard Field. To celebrate this milestone for the project, a special event was hosted at the new riverside neighbourhood, which will also see the Grade II* listed Power Station and Electric Boulevard, a new high street for Battersea, open to the public from September this year.
The event was attended by local school children from St Mary’s RC Primary School, Battersea, who were keen to put the new colourful playground to the test, and local stakeholders.
The Prospect Park playground and park area is located in the third phase of the Battersea Power Station development next to the Gehry Partners designed Prospect Place, which will begin welcoming residents shortly. The playground, which is open to the public daily from 8am – 8pm, was designed by landscape architects, LDA Design, to be deliberately playful and colourful next to the iconic Power Station, Gehry’s beautifully designed Prospect Place and Battersea Roof Gardens from Foster + Partners. LDA Design also designed the playground to feature areas suitable for all ages so children can discover fun new elements as they get older.
With the opening of Prospect Park also comes a new public footpath running from the Zone 1 Battersea Power Station Underground station through to the south of the Power Station and Circus West Village, the first chapter in the regeneration of Battersea Power Station. This shorter and more direct route makes it even easier to access the great mix of restaurants, cafés, fitness and leisure offerings already open at this riverside neighbourhood, including Gordon Ramsay’s Street Pizza, Francesco Mazzei’s Fiume, The Turbine Theatre, Be Military Fit, Black Sheep Coffee and The Cinema in The Arches.
“It’s wonderful to see another piece of the Battersea Power Station jigsaw complete in time for spring. LDA Design has been working with the team at Battersea Power Station for a decade now and being part of this monumental transformation means a lot to us. I’m looking forward to bringing my own children here – their exuberance helped shape this colourful, climbable landscape, which brings a touch of tree house to the city. Inspired by the planting around this new riverside neighbourhood, there is adventure and challenge to be had in this playground and I can’t wait to hear the peals of laughter and see children enjoying this space.”
Benjamin Walker, Director at LDA Design and London Studio lead
Once open to the public from September 2022, Battersea Power Station will form the centrepiece of a new ‘15-minute’ live, work and play neighbourhood, which will act as a town centre for the immediate and wider local communities, a new business quarter for the capital and a leisure destination for Londoners and international visitors. The Power Station will be home to 254 residential apartments, over 100 retail shops, restaurants and cafés, including a 20,000 sq ft food hall, office and unique event spaces, as well as a Chimney Lift Experience offering 360° views from the top of the Power Station’s North West chimney.
The retail and leisure experience will continue on a new high street, Electric Boulevard, which runs from the south of the Power Station, between the Frank Gehry designed Prospect Place and Foster + Partners’ Battersea Roof Gardens. Electric Boulevard will offer a mix of office space, shops, bars and restaurants, a park, playground and an exciting new 164 room hotel from art’otel®, the brand’s first hotel to open in London.
With the Northern Line extended to give this new riverside neighbourhood its very own Zone 1 London Underground station, Battersea Power Station is now within 15 minutes of the West End and the City and is expected to draw visitors from across the capital and the globe, becoming one of London’s most visited destinations, boosting the local economy and creating over 17,000 jobs.
Landscape Architect: LDA Design
Photography: Charlie Round-Turner / Battersea Power Station.