Was Trump right about “horrible” and “lousy” Battersea?
Donald Trump may well swing by the new US Embassy in Nine Elms during the state visit, so does he still hate it?
President Trump, on his September U.K. visit, will possibly swing by the US Embassy, the imposing glass block located in Nine Elms, between Vauxhall and Battersea Power Station. What would be interesting to know is whether he still hates the place.
In 2018, he slated it as ‘horrible’ and ‘lousy’ when referring to the US Embassy’s new home, following its move from leafy Grosvenor Square in Mayfair to the then-gritty neighbourhood. Now, around six years later, the area boasts the transformed hulk of the once-derelict Battersea Power Station and has become a landmark business, retail and leisure destination with new homes, parks, and much more. But does Trump’s 2018 opinion still stand?
Answering this question requires some historical context. In 2004, the area extending west of Vauxhall Cross through Nine Elms to the decommissioned Battersea Power Station on the south bank of the River Thames was designated as the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Opportunity Area in the London Plan. This marked the 230-hectare primarily industrial zone, and central London’s largest underdeveloped site, for complete redevelopment.
The initial late noughties master plan envisioned a new mixed-use urban quarter for London, with housing, office, leisure, and retail space, parks, and improved transport links.
Given the scale of the project, the speed of delivery and achievements have been breathtaking. In 2010, the US government announced plans to move its embassy to Nine Elms, to create a larger and more secure building, which was completed at the end of 2017, and officially opened in January 2018, but not by Trump, in his first term, who criticised the location and cost of the building.
Whatever he thought, the embassy’s relocation catalysed development around it. Building work commenced on Embassy Gardens, a new development with over 1,900 homes, shops, a cinema, and other leisure offerings, including a linear park.
Apple moves in
Since 2018, one of the area’s most striking transformations is of course that of Battersea Power Station, the majestic Art Deco building, the largest brick building in the world when built, which provided coal-fuelled power to the capital until its closure in the 1970s. It and its surroundings have undergone what could be called a coal-to-coders metamorphosis, with the regenerated building now home to Apple’s 500,000 sq ft European HQ, with around 3,500 employees. Apple’s Battersea Power Station offices represented one of the tech giant’s largest ever real estate projects, second only to its California Apple Park HQ campus completed in 2017.
Apple’s commitment to offices in this new London neighbourhood on a similar scale to its Silicon Valley headquarters, was a ringing endorsement of the area and its future as a thriving London business hub.
The new buildings and multinationals in and around Battersea are creating a clustering effect. World-renowned architectural practice Foster+Partners, and global home appliances producer SharkNinja, for example, now call major offices in the area home. Regeneration has also been supported by major new transport connections: the Northern line extension and its two new Underground stations – Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station – opened in 2021, providing new seamless links to London’s extensive transport network. Since opening in October 2022, it’s estimated Battersea Power Station has been visited by 26m people, supported by these new stations.
Battersea and Nine Elms’ transformation led us to develop OSMO, our recently completed 165,000 sq ft office building, which is one of the smartest and most sustainable workplaces in Europe. Designed during the pandemic, it encapsulates what today’s workspaces need to deliver for modern ways of working, with flexible wellbeing-enhancing features such as communal rooftop spaces for events, yoga classes, wellness sessions, meetings and alfresco working, supported by outdoor Wi-Fi. There are breakout spaces, F&B, and end-of-trip facilities including e-bike charging points to make active commuting easy. The space is also designed to be occupied in a healthier way, with access to fresh air and features that keep employees healthy and reduce sick days with air purifiers and biophilic design all playing a role.
Nine Elms and Battersea are symbols of what visionary urban regeneration can achieve. As a real estate guy, Trump of all people should appreciate that
Was Trump right in 2018? Maybe back then, there was an element of truth to his remarks. But today, Nine Elms and Battersea are symbols of what visionary urban regeneration can achieve. Whether you arrive by tube or presidential motorcade, what awaits is far from “lousy”. The area has transformed beyond recognition into a thriving new destination. With more development underway, the U.S. Embassy looks prescient to have taken space at the core of one of London’s best and fastest growing commercial, cultural, and residential locations. As a ‘real estate guy’, Trump of all people should appreciate this and what’s been achieved.
Tristram Gethin, Founding Partner at Quadrant