Battersea Power Station offered facelift

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - London's crumbling Battersea Power Station could be restored as part of a 4 billion pound redevelopment that would include a glass chimney taller than the Canary Wharf tower, the site's owners said on Friday.

The scheme would include more than 3,200 homes and an office campus covered by an "Eco-Dome" topped by a 300-metre (1,000ft) tower and a flue that would offer sun-powered natural ventilation, Irish-owned Real Estate Opportunities said.

But local campaigners who fear for the future of the 1930s art deco building said the plans were a "fantasy project" that would never be realised.

The brick-clad power hall with its four white chimneys on the Thames's south bank, 1.5 miles west of the Houses of Parliament, is one of London's most recognisable icons.

It featured on the cover of a Pink Floyd album -- with an inflatable pink pig floating between its chimneys -- and is much-loved by local residents.

But the building and its 38-acre site have fallen into disrepair since its power turbines ceased turning in 1983.

Since then a series of proposed redevelopments have been abandoned, including a Disney-style theme park and a conference centre.

In the process the building has lost its roof and one wall and the owners, who bought the site for 400 million pounds in 2006, say they are spending 2 million pounds a year just to prevent its complete collapse.