Designs from Wilkinson Eyre Architects focus on opening up the turbine halls to public use from 2019.

Key features include:

• Open, unobstructed turbine halls
Both turbine halls are to be left largely unobstructed internally so that visitors experience the cavernous presence of each turbine hall. This has been achieved by proposing that the cafes, shops and restaurants are recessed off the sides of the turbine halls.

• A full height void (to provide views of chimneys from inside)
The creation of a full-height void space behind the southern wall of the Boiler House giving visitors the visual impact of views from the ground floor all the way up the internal wall and out to the chimneys above.

• A central atrium

The creation of a new central atrium in the Boiler House, in place of the eight smaller atria, enabling more natural light to penetrate the central part of the Power Station allowing visitors to see up to the sky from inside the building.

• A public viewing platform
The addition of a concealed lift to provide access to a public viewing platform at the top of north-west chimney, which will enable visitors to enjoy panoramic views of London at a height of 110m.

The site will contain a state-of-the-art new events space; shops, restaurants and cafes; large open-plan office spaces; and homes on the top around a garden square in the sky, as well as to either side of the Power Station.

The proposals comprise 40,000 sq m of shops, cafes and restaurants; 58,000 sq m of offices and 248 homes.

Mace is currently managing the complex enabling works to rebuild the shell of the power station including the mammoth task of dismantling and then rebuilding the four chimneys to the original design.

The painstaking process of cutting down the chimneys will begin in February.

Mace will also oversee the extensive brick repair package of work to the existing shell, which has been left shored up by temporary works for more than 20 years.

The firm beat rivals Sir Robert McAlpine, Lend Lease, Brookfield and ISG to take the package, making it a strong bidder for the main revamp of the old power station.

Tenders for this will be invited next year with a start planned in early 2015.

Rob Tincknell, Chief Executive Officer for Battersea Power Station Development Company, said: “It’s really important to everyone involved in this incredible project that we get the restoration and future use of the Power Station exactly right.

“We feel that what we are proposing retains and respects the integrity of this historic landmark whilst also creating vibrant living, working and recreational space that this part of London needs. The scheme that we are proposing will see the building restored, opened up to the public and safeguarded for future generations.”

Jim Eyre, Director of Wilkinson Eyre, said: “We wanted to ensure that the proposed designs were consistent with and sympathetic to Sir Gilbert Scott’s masterpiece, with the chimneys and turbine halls remaining the dominant features of the building.

“It was important to us to retain the Power Station’s sense of scale and visual drama, which is achieved through design features such as the full-height glass void behind the southern wall and the vast, central atrium.

“It was also really important to restore a sense of energy to the building so that people have a rewarding experience each and every time they visit.”