Apple plans 40% occupation of Battersea power station by 2021
Wed 28 Sep 2016
Apple has announced that it plans to create a London headquarters at one of the capital’s most iconic landmarks – Battersea Power Station.
According to a circulated release, the tech giant plans to situate 1,400 employees to the building by 2021. The company commented that the move represents a ‘great opportunity to have its entire team working and collaborating in one location while supporting the renovation of a neighbourhood rich with history’.
The move seems likely to have been inspired, or at least hastened, by the near-certainty of the United Kingdom’s secession from the European Union within the next 24 months, as Apple concentrates its European presence around Ireland – where it currently has plans to expand its Cork manufacturing plant after a 25% increase in the installation’s workforce over the past year.
Rob Tincknell, the executive behind the £8 billion redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, commented:
“It is testament to our fantastic building and the wider generation of the 42-acre site which offers a carefully curated mix of homes, businesses and leisure amidst extraordinary open spaces and new transport links… It has always been our clear objective to create one of London’s most thriving new communities and this commitment from Apple will undoubtedly help us achieve our goal.”
Work on Battersea Power Station was launched in 1929, and its Art Deco-inspired lines have made it one of London’s most popular and distinctive buildings, commemorated by its famous use on the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals. The building’s semi-abandoned status after decommissioning made it a popular choice as a filming location for science-fiction drama including Doctor Who, and later Batman franchise outing The Dark Knight.
A Malaysian consortium purchased the site for redevelopment in 2013, putting in place a planned redevelopment by Raphael Vinoly which anticipated the destruction and replacement of two of the building’s signature chimneys.
