Thames site revamp a stern test

Not only did London's Battersea Power Station survive the Blitz, it has managed to withstand the attention of property developers for the last two decades.

The station on the south bank of the Thames stopped generating electricity in 1983, and it has lain largely idle since then.

Thirteen years ago, Parkview International, controlled by Hong Kong developer Victor Hwang, moved in with a plan to transform the 38-acre derelict site into a £1.5 billion leisure complex that would attract 10,000 visitors a day.

But this year, Parkview changed tack and sought planning permission to redevelop the site as a mixed entertainment, shopping, commercial and residential hub.

The move came as no surprise, as the first of Parkview's Irish suitors, Seán Mulryan's Ballymore Properties, earlier this year opened talks with Hwang's company with a view to doing something similar with the site.

Ballymore had been seeking a majority stake in the enterprise, but the talks fell apart, reportedly over differences between the pair on the level of housing needed to make the project viable.

Yesterday, it emerged that the Treasury Holdings-controlled Real Estate Opportunities (REO) is now going to take up the reins.

REO will pay almost €600 million for ownership of the property. From its comments yesterday, it's not planning to stray much from the existing formula for Battersea's redevelopment.

Five years ago, Treasury came close to buying another Thameside landmark, the Millennium Dome. Its Legacy consortium once looked to be the preferred bidder for the property with a proposal valued at close to €200 million. However, the deal did not go ahead and Treasury subsequently claimed it was a victim of politics.

Treasury's principals, John Ronan and Richard Barrett, may have a swashbuckling image, but behind that they have a name for getting things done. Battersea looks set to give that reputation its sternest test yet.