AtkinsRéalis celebrates opening of Underground entrance at Battersea Power Station

AtkinsRéalis, a world-class engineering services company, has marked the opening a new step-free entrance to the London Underground station at Battersea Power Station, giving tube customers a second fully accessible entrance for accessing Northern line services.

AtkinsRéalis played a key role in delivery of the station, completing the concept and detailed designs for the fit-out of the new western station entrance, as well as providing architectural design, structural engineering and electrical services including design of new lifts and escalators. 

AtkinsRéalis designed the escalators and lifts at Battersea Power Station's tube station among other parts

Seb Dance, Deputy Mayor for Transport, and Andy Lord, London’s Transport Commissioner, were among the first to visit the new Electric Boulevard Underground entrance, alongside local four-legged residents from the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, which is just a three-minute walk from the station.

The new entrance has two escalators and a lift and provides additional capacity, helping to future-proof the station for projected increases in customer demand. It was funded by Battersea Power Station (BPS), Transport for London (TfL), the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Wandsworth Council.

AtkinsRéalis architect Ryan Huxford, said it was an important part of the wider regeneration project of the iconic Battersea Power Station site, which also reflects structural shape of the site as part of its ceiling design.

He said: “It’s important to emphasise that Battersea is a regeneration project and as such is bringing to life an important part of south west London.

“Our new station entrance is step-free, inclusive and accessible, which means benefitting those living, working and visiting Battersea, as well as wider surrounding areas.

“The ceiling design is a reference to the relationship that the new station has with the wider over-site development. The intersecting grid patterns reflect the station structural grid and the structural grid of the development block above.”

Sam Cotton, Interim CEO of Battersea Power Station Development Company, centre, opened the new station on October 6

The new Zone 1 London Underground station at Battersea Power Station opened four years ago on 20 September 2021, alongside the Northern Line Extension’s other new Tube station at Nine Elms.

Since then, the two step-free Zone 1 stations have given a huge boost to the area’s connectivity, reducing journey times and helping to support the ongoing delivery of around 25,000 new jobs and more than 20,000 new homes.

The extension of the Northern line to Battersea Power Station, alongside the opening of the Elizabeth Line and the regeneration driven by the London Overground network, is a real-life example of the significant economic and housing benefits that major transport projects have.

In the past year, the Northern Line Extension has seen 13.4 million journeys which is at the top end of TfL’s estimates from previous modelling.

Sam Cotton, Interim CEO of Battersea Power Station Development Company, said: “The opening of the Electric Boulevard Entrance is an important milestone for Battersea Power Station as we continue to progress this ambitious regeneration project, and plan for future growth with nearly half of the neighbourhood still to be delivered.”

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