Control Room B
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned Grade II* listed coal-fired power station, located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Nine Elms, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) to the design of Leonard Pearce, Engineer in Chief to the LPC, and CS Allott & Son Engineers. The architects were J Theo Halliday and Giles Gilbert Scott. The station is one of the world’s largest brick buildings and notable for its original, Art Deco interior fittings and decor.
At its peak, Battersea Power Station produced a fifth of London’s power, supplying electricity to some of London’s most recognisable landmarks, such as the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. Working in tandem with Control Room A, Control Room B managed the distribution of power generated by the Power Station’s turbines. Functionally Control Room B can be divided into two sets of controls. The control desk and freestanding controls synchronised the 66kV output of the station to match the standards of the grid, while the switchgear racks at the rear of the room controlled the power supplies to a range of auxiliary equipment across the power station.
Turbine Hall B was constructed between 1937 and 1941 before construction was halted by the Second World War. It was eventually completed in 1955. It is an almost identical design mirroring Turbine Hall A which had been built between 1929 and 1945. A distinctive difference is that Control Room B gives an overview of Turbine Hall B, whilst Control Room A was built in a separate room from its turbine hall.
Today, as you can see above, an all-day cocktail bar occupies much of the space. However, there are audio tours explaining the control room's instrumentation and equipment. Apparently there's also an escape room.
Control Room B
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned Grade II* listed coal-fired power station, located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Nine Elms, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) to the design of Leonard Pearce, Engineer in Chief to the LPC, and CS Allott & Son Engineers. The architects were J Theo Halliday and Giles Gilbert Scott. The station is one of the world’s largest brick buildings and notable for its original, Art Deco interior fittings and decor.
At its peak, Battersea Power Station produced a fifth of London’s power, supplying electricity to some of London’s most recognisable landmarks, such as the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. Working in tandem with Control Room A, Control Room B managed the distribution of power generated by the Power Station’s turbines. Functionally Control Room B can be divided into two sets of controls. The control desk and freestanding controls synchronised the 66kV output of the station to match the standards of the grid, while the switchgear racks at the rear of the room controlled the power supplies to a range of auxiliary equipment across the power station.
Turbine Hall B was constructed between 1937 and 1941 before construction was halted by the Second World War. It was eventually completed in 1955. It is an almost identical design mirroring Turbine Hall A which had been built between 1929 and 1945. A distinctive difference is that Control Room B gives an overview of Turbine Hall B, whilst Control Room A was built in a separate room from its turbine hall.
Today, as you can see above, an all-day cocktail bar occupies much of the space. However, there are audio tours explaining the control room's instrumentation and equipment. Apparently there's also an escape room.