New Chelsea Harbour plan awaits go-ahead

A second Chelsea Harbour may be built in London at a cost of £400 million by property tycoons Elliott Bernerd and Godfrey Bradman - if they finally succeed in obtaining planning consent.

Architect Terry Farrell has been lined up to draw up a master plan for the Lots Road power station site on the north bank of the Thames.

The power station on the site, owned by P&O, could be demolished but the favoured route is to create a piazza inside the structure with luxury apartments. Up to 74,320m2 of homes, shops and restaurants could be developed.

London Transport brought in the developers last month following last month's £1 billion deal under the private finance initiative to contract the Underground power supply network and purchase electricity in the open market.

"It is a bit premature to talk about a commercial development for the Lots Road power station. We have sought planning consent for a number of years without any success," said a spokesman for London Transport.

He told CJ it would take Seeboard-Powerlink, who had won a 30-year contract to supply it with power, at least two to three years to move the electricity distribution from the power station away from the National Grid. "No work can start until this is sorted out," he said.