No, Willy Wonka isn’t building a chocolate factory in London. Battersea Power Station, made famous by the iconic Pink Floyd’s album cover and then became more famous as a white elephant changing hands several times, is to get a new tourist attraction. They’re going to put a glass elevator in one of the smokestacks and offer travelers a chance to get 360-degree unobstructed views of London. Incredible!
Dubbed the Chimney Lift Experience, here are the official details:
Battersea Power Station today unveils a major new London attraction, a glass elevator which will travel 109 meters to the top of one of the iconic chimneys. On opening, it will offer visitors unrivaled views of the capital’s skyline from one of the most unique viewing platforms in London. The Chimney Lift is one of three new and exciting event/attraction spaces on offer inside the iconic Power Station. Once complete, these latest additions will sit alongside the many shops, restaurants and office spaces within the Power Station when it opens to the public in 2021, and thus further enhancing the project’s position as a new London destination.
The Chimney Lift: will provide visitors with the unique experience of traveling up the interior of the north-west chimney in a custom-built glass elevator which emerges at the 109 meters high summit as a viewing platform, offering breathtaking 360° panoramic vistas across the capital and into the Home Counties
The Venue: a significant addition to London’s event infrastructure, it will feature a series of core and connected spaces, attracting thousands of visitors each year. The space has the flexibility to host a wide variety of cultural events ranging from live music, product launches, fashion shows, conferences, dinners and other entertainment. The Event Box, the main space, can hold up to 1,500 people
Control Room A: a magnificent and rare example of a complete 1930s Art Deco interior, and overlooking the Turbine Hall through a series of bay windows and balconies, the 250-person capacity immersive space will form a unique backdrop for a wide range of events either in conjunction with or separately from The Event Box. Control Room A contained the equipment necessary to monitor the electrical output of the Power Station when it was operational and became famous by featuring in films such as The King’s Speech and Monty Python
Very cool! I’m glad to finally see the beautiful old power station finally coming back into use and open to the public. It’s been a long time coming, with many schemes that have failed over the years. Now it’s happening for sure (thanks to all the flats being built around it that are paying for it all). There were lots of issues with modernizing the buildings – at one point the smokestacks had to be completely torn down and rebuilt exactly as they were to make them structurally sound (they’re listed so can’t be demolished, ever). Apple is also going to have their new UK headquarters in the power station.
We’ll be there in 2021 to check it out when it opens!
Read about the history of this famous building here:
Author: Jonathan Thomas
Jonathan is a consummate Anglophile who launched Anglotopia.net in 2007 to channel his passion for Britain. Londontopia is its sister publication dedicated to everything London.