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Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

batterseapowerstation.co.uk

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Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#101

Post by TomWhitwell »

camtarn wrote: post #2

With the beautiful art deco ceiling and walls, it almost feels more like a palatial monument to the power of electricity, rather than a mere control room. Imagine if we strove to make our industrial spaces as attractive nowadays! Modern control rooms are still breathtaking, but more through the sheer volume of stuff - blinking lights, giant monitors, diagrams, and so on - than through decoration.

Here’s a 1960s British power station control room - a different (‘space age’) aesthetic but still very much a designed space intended to impress: https://www.powerstations.uk/ferrybridge-c-control-room/

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#102

Post by stevoski »

202206241203 wrote: post #12
detritus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be the case across much of London, sadly. 'Synthetic' is the word that comes to mind whenever I see these developments. Frankly, as much as the effort impresses me from a technical point, I'm content enough only ever seeing it from afar when I pass vaguely nearby on a train going south. I suspect I'll never actually walk through it. Having 'argued' with people on HN about this sort of thing beforehand,…

In a second-world country, they would just demolish the building and maybe sell some of the control room knobs on e-bay. It might be as good as it gets in terms of involving private capital. I personally think that mid-century technological artefacts are underappreciated.

“Second world”: the former communist block consisting of the Soviet Union and some countries in eastern Europe.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#103

Post by Ekaros »

mmarq wrote: post #80
jlokier wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would abolishing section 21 evictions sort out issues related to being priced out of the area for private tenants? Tenants still have to leave when their 12 month fixed term tenancy ends (the most common type I've seen), if they receive an offer to start a fresh one at a raised price that's higher than they can afford.

Contracts will be perpetual or will last decades, with rent increases linked to inflation. Tenants will be able to end their tenancies with 1-2 months notice, landlords won’t be able terminate a tenancy unless they have to move into the property or the tenant is not paying rent. This is how renting works in Western Europe.

It really depends on country for Finland that is certainly not the way. 1 year contracts turning in perpetual ones are somewhat new standard, but this is by the landlord to protect their gains. Otherwise it is always 1 month notice from renter or 3 month in case of less than 1 year and 6 months for landlord.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#104

Post by Animats »

samizdis wrote: post #10
camtarn wrote: post #2

With the beautiful art deco ceiling and walls, it almost feels more like a palatial monument to the power of electricity, rather than a mere control room. Imagine if we strove to make our industrial spaces as attractive nowadays! Modern control rooms are still breathtaking, but more through the sheer volume of stuff - blinking lights, giant monitors, diagrams, and so on - than through decoration.

The Victorians had a similarly grand take on public utility buildings, especially pump houses for water/sewage works. Probably the best example is Crossness Pumping Station [1]. The interior is stunning; this [2] is one image from the Wikipedia page/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossness_Pumping_Station [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crossness_Pumping_Station...

Check out the headquarters of the Niagara Mohawk Power Company in Syracuse, NY. That is one of the best pieces of art deco architecture in the world. Usually art deco is somewhat minimalist, but Niagara Mohawk went over the top on decoration and lighting. The building is still in use and was recently renovated.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#105

Post by raverbashing »

mmarq wrote: post #83
nly wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't understand what the hate is with respect to Section 21. If you own property then you should be able to do whatever you want with it, whenever you want, provided you meet your obligations under any tenancy agreement. As a tenant myself I have always accepted the possibility that my landlord could serve notice as my fixed term approaches its end. It literally says the landlord has the right to do so in t…

First of all this state of affairs is unique to the UK, in continental Europe this section 21 business doesn’t exist and 99% of the population wouldn’t consider it a thing of a civilized country (because it isn’t). S12 invalidates half of your tenancy agreement, to be precise it allows your landlord to renege on all their obligations. A window breaks and you want it to be fixed it? Bad luck, here’s your S21 and may t…

The other side of S21 is for example Germany where you can't easily evict people from your apartment even if you want to live in it.

So yeah, while 2 months is a short time in some circumstances, allowing the contract to be terminated by both parties is an important aspect

Let's not do it like in Canada where you're pretty much forced to leave at the end of the contract or you renew it for a whole year (and in some cities, all contracts end on the same date oof)

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#106

Post by lostlogin »

_dain_ wrote: post #90
LightG wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sympathetic with locals being priced out of their area. Your analysis around that is incredibly simplistic.

They get priced out because it's so hard to build anything anywhere else. The restricted places where development can happen, end up with all the pent up demand flooding into them. The solution is not to prevent building from happening, it's to loosen restrictions everywhere else. The planning system is in serious need of reform.

If you want to see what happens if you let people build what they want, have a look at Auckland, New Zealand. Low quality building on large sections spread over a vast area. High infrastructure requirements with low population density. It's not good.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#107

Post by xnorswap »

mmarq wrote: post #100
lentil_soup wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I rented in the UK it was 1yr contracts that I had to renew and hope it didn't go up in price. Is that not the case anymore?

Nothing has changed since Thatcher, I was describing a scenario where the UK completes its westernisation process and abolishes S21.

Not quite true, they changed it a few years ago so agencies had to stop scamming both tenants and landlords out of massive fees (often charging both for the same thing) every time the contracts were renewed.

That and the tenancy deposit scheme overall has made renting a lot less stressful than it was a decade or two ago.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#109

Post by noir_lord »

camtarn wrote: post #51
samizdis wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Victorians had a similarly grand take on public utility buildings, especially pump houses for water/sewage works. Probably the best example is Crossness Pumping Station [1]. The interior is stunning; this [2] is one image from the Wikipedia page/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossness_Pumping_Station [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crossness_Pumping_Station...

Wow! Absolutely gorgeous. I wonder what the motivation was for such over-the-top decoration? Lots of money sloshing around and a desire to make things beautiful for beauty's sake? Individual or governmental prestige?

> I wonder what the motivation was for such over-the-top decoration? Lots of money sloshing around and a desire to make things beautiful for beauty's sake? Individual or governmental prestige?

The Victorians saw engineering prowess as a statement of intent to the world, combine that with this https://benjaminstudebaker.com/2015/12/17/how-austerity-dest... (British empire from 1830 to 1880 accounted for half of global wealth and approx 25% of landmass) and you could do incredible things.

Lots of victorian infrastructure was built/over built so well we still use some of it now (London's sewer system is 2000 kilometers and brick built) - it was often seen as a legacy for the future as well.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#110

Post by csmattryder »

TylerE wrote: post #22

For non UK readers, Battersea Power Station is the building on the cover of Pink Floyd's album Animals

The new remix (that was due this month...) has the updated graphic of Battersea with cranes positioned around it as it was being redeveloped into flats and the like, including the OPs redevelopment of the control room.

https://www.pinkfloydz.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/animal...

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