I went on one of the recent tours of Battersea Power Station, and while you are not allowed inside the structure itself, it is worth a visit for a close up viewing of the building. Due to “popular demand”, the tours have been extended.

The extra dates are 16th, 23rd and the 30th of August which are all Saturdays, times are from 10am – 5pm.

I have been inside the building before – photos here – but the close up visit is still worth while. Remember though – it’s a very long walk!

Hat tip to SkyscraperNews

Three teenagers are being sought by the police after a cat was drowned in the Thames. The cat was a rescue puss from the Battersea Dog and Cats Home and was just starting to settle down as the “cat in residence” on HMS Belfast when he was simply thrown overboard by this sick bastards.

I feel really upset about this – as I used to have a cat from the same shelter who had been previously abandoned (and they think, hit by a car) and he was the most wonderful cat I have ever known. It was devastating when he eventually died after a couple of years with me – as he had a long term illness. I know he got a better home for those couple of years than he most certainly had in the past, and judging by how he would always trot out to greet me when I came home from work, I think he rather liked my company as well.

The staff of HMS Belfast were doing the same and offering a loving retirement to a cat who had probably had a bit of a rough time earlier – only for that to be cruelly snatched away by a trio of idiots.

Yesterday, I wandered over to Battersea Power Station for a viewing of the exhibition for the latest (of many) plans to redevelop the huge industrial wasteland – and because we could also then go on a tour of the building itself.

The exhibition is quite good, goes into a lot of detail – although there is tons upon tons of hype about the eco-friendliness of proposals, almost as if they are the sole issue at stake here. There is also one of my favourites – a huge scale model of the site.

Most interesting to me was the map of the transport plans – as they expect to extend the Northern Line from Kennington to the development.

Once you fill in a questionnaire about the plans and sign a disclaimer – you can then go on a visit to the iconic building. Alas, the “tour” is basically a walk around the outside with a couple of spots where you can get up close to the entrances. It’s close enough to get a good view of the derelict interior, and includes going round to the riverside frontage, which I have not been to before.

You are warned that it is a very long walk – although I guess it says something about the fitness of the average Brit if half a mile is deemed worthy of a warning notice.

However, as I had been right inside the whole building once before, to be denied that this time was a bit disappointing – but if you have never been near the power station, then this really is a good chance to go. The exhibition closes this weekend though – so you need to be sharpish.

However:

One of the leaflets they handed out mentioned that surplus heat from the power station was pumped under the Thames to a housing estate on the North side – and it got me thinking as such hot water pipes would have to be lain in a tunnel for maintenance and insulation. Ergo – there is a tunnel under the Thames at this point!

I have been digging and found out that indeed the tunnel still exists – is quite large at 10ft internal diameter (Greenwich foot tunnel is 9ft diameter) and still reasonably structurally safe. After inflicting some damage to my credit card to buy some technical documents – I have a fair bit of info about the construction of the tunnel, which doubled up as the electricity conduit to the North of the river as well. Indeed, that seems to have been its primary function on some structural drawings I have – and the surplus heat discharge was an afterthought.

I have found a few contact details of a firm which did some work in the tunnels a few years ago, along obviously with the new owners and shall do some letter writing and beg for a chance to have a look

There is also another tunnel running south from the power station – reported to be 7ftx7ft square – and that was for the electricity cables. There was a cut/cover trench within the grounds, and then through an 8-foot 3-inch diameter subway, 460 feet long, in Kirtling Street.

Finally, two more tunnels run from the Power Station to the riverside and is marked on some drawings as an “intake/outlet culvert”, which is for cooling waters. Under the power station for the river water intake was also a vast 140ft long suction chamber, which could be quite impressive to see.