Battersea spurred by the renovation of the iconic art deco power station, has become one of London’s fastest growing new leisure, business and retail destinations. Since the revamped power station opened its doors in 2022, the area has been transformed with swathes of new homes, workspaces, parks, restaurants, shops, bars and entertainment venues.

Eight million people, passed through the new Battersea Power Station Underground station in 2023. The number will surely only grow, as new offerings emerge all the time.

The Battersea Power Station renovation also propelled new development across the wider Nine Elms district, the most notable example being the new US Embassy, which opened in 2018. But almost two years since the completion of the power station’s redevelopment marked the most significant milestone in the area’s regeneration, can the reinvention of central London’s last major brownfield site be called a success and what could the future hold?

Apple opening its new 500,000-square-feet European headquarters at Battersea Power Station in 2023 was a reminder Battersea has the credentials to tempt major occupiers out of more traditional London locations. Apple’s Battersea Power Station offices represented one of the tech giant’s largest ever real estate projects, second only to its Californian Apple Park headquarters campus it moved into in 2017. The company having committed to offices here on a similar scale to its Silicon Valley offices is a ringing endorsement for the area. Apple invested over £100 million in the fitout of its new Battersea workspace that about 3,500 of its employees have moved into, with space to house more staff.

New buildings and new tenants in and around Battersea are creating a growing clustering effect, with the most recent example being SharkNinja, a global producer of home appliances that signed for 32,000 square feet at Battersea Power Station’s offices in Electric Boulevard in June. Rents are also rising and will continue to do so as the destination matures, but the good news for occupiers is the supply of ESG-led workspace in the surrounding area is increasing, and for now, can still be secured at attractive rents. Prime workspace just over the River Thames in Victoria is commanding rents of over £105 per square foot according to CBRE, as opposed to £70-£80 per square footfor best Grade A space in Battersea.

Our belief in the multitude of factors driving Battersea’s growth led us to developing Osmo, our newly completed 165,000-square-foot BREEAM Outstanding and net-zero-in-operation office building that sits between Battersea and Vauxhall’s new linear park. It is one of the smartest and most sustainable workspaces in Europe, encapsulating what modern workspace needs to deliver from an amenity perspective but also reflecting how working habits and occupier demands have changed in recent years.

Wellbeing-enhancing features and services including a communal rooftop lounge for events, yoga classes, wellness sessions, meetings and al fresco working. This is alongside breakout workspaces, food and beverage and end-of-trip facilities with Brompton lockers and e-bike charging points. There are also services designed to make employees lives easier from dog walking to laundry services. These all culminate to ensure the building lets employees work however they want.

Today, Battersea is offering a fresh alternative to working in London. Its combination of retail, leisure, new homes and bars makes working here unlike anywhere else in the city. Supporting this is the creation of a new 4.5 hectare linear park linking Battersea and Nine Elms.

Osmo is designed to encourage employees to immerse themselves in nature, with an open-air nature inspired reception, a pocket park and terraces, all a moment’s walk from the new park. Careful co-ordination between private developers and the local authority has been a fundamental part of the area’s regeneration, ensuring public realm, workspaces, retail and residential interlink to support modern lifestyles.

According to Battersea Power Station, footfall to the destination has risen by 20% so far in 2024, and the Power Station itself has been visited by over 11 million people. This popularity will keep driving Battersea’s growth, attracting new investment including for homes and offices.

Keeping offerings up-to-date and relevant will be key to its continued growth and ability to attract commercial occupiers, residents and visitors. Mixed-use offerings from green spaces to gyms and restaurants, improve occupier wellbeing and productivity by, for example, encouraging healthier lifestyles and social cohesion. Battersea and Nine Elms must continue to take advantage of the flexibility it has as one of London’s newest destinations to continuously reinvent its mix of offerings in a way many other London locations cannot.

Battersea’s role as a London business hub also rests on there being ample workspace that can meet the needs of modern businesses. The area is already home to blue-chip occupiers from Apple to Penguin Random House UK, and will undoubtedly welcome more, assuming workspace with sustainability, amenity, wellness, and productivity enhancing features at its heart can be provided. It’s exciting to see other new office buildings designed by renowned architects are either planned or in the pipeline and will join Osmo as part of a cluster of new workspaces in Battersea and Nine Elms. Foster + Partners has just completed a new mixed-use building providing over 200,000 square feet of new workspace and two new Gehry Partners designed 15-story residential towers are also in development.

The sheer scale of the area’s transformation is being noticed by the world’s best businesses and, providing the best commercial space continues to be delivered here together with innovative asset management of the area’s mixed-use element, many more pioneering firms will be locating here.

Tristram Gethin, founding partner at Quadrant, the UK investor and developer