19 August, 2006

Bridges Wharf To Start Construction


Work is due to start in the coming weeks on Bridges Wharf in Battersea on three new Thames-side residential buildings, all designed by Chantrey for Weston Homes. With building heights and floors all modest, ranging from 37.5 and 10 floors for the shortest to 49.5 and 14 for the tallest they show just the very latest examples of what is making this area boom accommodating a mixture of a 100 room hotel, retail and 266 swish apartments. There will also be control facilities for the nearby heliport. There will also be a restaurant on the top of the tallest block and 300 car parking spaces, a relatively large amount for a London development these days.Thanks to the attractive location, the short distance between it and the centre of London, good rail transport links from Clapham Junction, and the feeling that Battersea has been an up-coming area ever since This Life threw the spot-light on it in the mid 90s this Weston Homes hope will prove just the latest successful project in the area. Other popular schemes have included the nearby Falcon Wharf built by Frogmore Estates, and there is of course the planned Power Station that is gradually inching forwards.Despite this growing collection of developments local council, Wandsworth, are notoriously difficult with their planning regulations when it comes to height and density, as indeed many Tory councils are. In this case the design has been scaled down substantially, earlier project images showed Bridges Wharf reaching up to 22 floors in height but this was withdrawn after council objections before the Mayor of London was able to comment on it. Gone too is the blockier former design replaced by more curving forms as seen in their almost neighbour at Falcon Wharf and plenty of stepping, one block manages to step almost 10 floors in height. Balconies wrap around the outsides providing almost every resident with external space.When coupled with Falcon Wharf, significantly included in the promotional renderings there's a feeling of unity to the Bridges Wharf triplets although whether this marks the beginning of a "Battersea look" remains to be seen but it certainly won't be the last big development this area will see.

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