FROM FROM BATTERSEABATTERSEA

TO THETO THE CLEAN AIR ACTS CLEAN AIR ACTS

TRANSITION TRANSITION TOTO ELECTRIC POWER ELECTRIC POWER LOCAL INDUSTRYLOCAL INDUSTRY

Wolverhampton

Barton A 1923 Barton A 1923 (Manchester Corporation)(Manchester Corporation)

Electric Lighting Act 1888/1909Reduced restrictions and LAs as generators

Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 National grid

Barton A “scorching hedges and fruit trees”

Barton A 1923 Barton A 1923 (Manchester Corporation)(Manchester Corporation)

Manchester CorporationElectricity generation gave smoke but their duties arose under the Man. Corp. Act 1914

House of Lords (1929/1930)Overturned decision: cannot rely on

statutory powers to excuse a nuisance

Shock! A decision of

great moment

BATTERSEA ABATTERSEA A

London Power Company used 1926 Act Consent given in 1927 Shock!

POLLUTION WORRY FROM OUTSETPOLLUTION WORRY FROM OUTSET

Could attach conditions (1927) Chimney heights Gas washing Not practical to revoke consent

“This will kill every green thing within two miles of Battersea, rot all the buildings and bleach all the babies.”

G. Fry Prime Minister’s personal secretary

HEADLINES 1929HEADLINES 1929

FAILURE TO FORSEE A DEPLORABLE STEP SULPHUR CLOUD BUILDING IN SPITE OF

PROTEST SUNLIGHT AND SMOKE OUTPOURINGS OF GREAT

CHIMNEYS BATTERSEA’S FOLLY

ALARM THE SITE GAS WASHING FUMES

MENACE NOXIOUS GAS FUME STATION

““BUILDING IN SPITE OF PROTEST”BUILDING IN SPITE OF PROTEST”

Steel-framed building with brickwork hung from the outside, similar to US skyscrapers

Construction 1929-1939 Station B 1953-55 Four-chimney layout

HEADLINES 1934HEADLINES 1934

POWER SMOKE WITHOUT FUMES A RIVERSIDE NOCTURNE BIGGEST POWER STATION IN THE WORLD THE GIANT ROBOT OF BATTERSEA POWER INDUSTRY’S SMOKE BECOMES BEAUTIFUL

OVERCOMING PROTESTOVERCOMING PROTEST

“the building was too large and would be an eyesore, and those who were worried about the pollution. Ignoring the latter, the company addressed the former by hiring Sir Giles Gilbert Scott”

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

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1927 1937 1947 1957 1967 1977 1987

COMPLAINTS GRAPHCOMPLAINTS GRAPH

PLANNING STAGE

WW2

CONSTRCTION AND SMOKE ABATEMENT STUDIES

CLOSURE

WARTIMEWARTIME

a clear landmark for the bombers of the Luftwaffe

TEMPLE OF POWERTEMPLE OF POWER

Art Deco control room Italian marble turbine hall Polished parquet floors Wrought iron staircases

Fluted white smoke stacks

Turbine Hall as nave

Architects Journal 1939 celebrities vote it their 2nd favourite building

PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITIONPHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION

SYMBOL OF PRIDE and MODERNTYSYMBOL OF PRIDE and MODERNTY

BIGGEST POWER STATION IN THE WORLD

THE GIANT ROBOT OF BATTERSEA

STATION B 1953-55STATION B 1953-55

1952 fog Scrubbing success/failure

PAINTEDPAINTED

PHOTOGRAPHEDPHOTOGRAPHED

ICONIC STATUSICONIC STATUS

Pink Floyd Animals 1977

SongbookAlbum cover

The Who Quadrophenia (1973)

Hitomi Yaida The First Reflection (2001)

Also:The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld and Les Claypool's Frog Brigade's Live Frogs

ICONIC STATUSICONIC STATUS

Sir Ian McKellen 1995 film version of Richard III used the Battersea PS as a backdrop

…also Alfred Hitchcock Sabotage (1936)Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life

CLOSURECLOSURE 1975 Station A (out of date) was shut down Public pressure to save the buildings,

notably Station A's Deco interior. 1980 declared a heritage site 1983 production in Station B ended Plans to construct a

theme park in 1988 folded

SYMBOL OF COMMUNITYSYMBOL OF COMMUNITY

DECOMMISIONING DECOMMISIONING ANDAND DESTRUCTION DESTRUCTION

Battersea Power Station has been standing mute defying that fate and death… its rebirth and the removal of a major central London area of blight … would re-energise this part of town

MORE PLANS (2004)MORE PLANS (2004)

24-hour destination- cinema, bars, cafes and shops

750 new flats twisted like ribbon building to create a

"spectacular portal to the site"

IRONYIRONY

Inversion of protest The grid and relocation The loss of urban power-stations

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LONDON SMOG OF 1952

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1000

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0 5 10 15

SmokeSO2

g m-3

December air pollution at County Hall

WEEKLY DEATH RATE IN LONDON ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTY 1952

0

1000

2000

3000

DeathsSMOG WEEK

MECHANISMS OF FOG FORMATIONClassically related to

sulfuric acid formation HSO3

- + ½O2 SO4

= + H+

catalysed by dissolved iron

neutralised by calcium

New work considers humic like polycarboxylic acids

hygroscopic

surface active

Yousef Otaibi Talib Latif UEA

GREAT SMOG and GREAT SMOG and PUBLIC IMAGESPUBLIC IMAGES

Cancelled buses, football Animals suffering Lost on the way home

CRIMINALS IN THE ’52 SMOGCRIMINALS IN THE ’52 SMOG

Tiger in the Smoke (1952) Lady in the Fog (1952)

Newspapers incorrectly reported increased crime…

KRAY BROTHERSKRAY BROTHERS

Grateful for the fogs spent the early1950's dodging the Army

Normally crime increased in fogs,

… but in 1952 the Great Smog rendered London virtually crime free

David Bailey

OUTCOME OUTCOME as everyone knows...as everyone knows...

Beaver Committee Private Member’s Bill (Nabarro) Clean Air Act (1956)

How many died? What was the role of SO2?

but...but...

FACTS-FACTIONS-FICTIONSFACTS-FACTIONS-FICTIONS MacMillan

(Housing) Gasmasks Mass Graves Delayed

response

Conspiracy and cover up- driven by fading social memory??

CONCEALING THE DEATHSCONCEALING THE DEATHS

Contemporary analysis was fairly immediate…but

Influenza and longer term impacts

FACTS-FACTIONS-FICTIONSFACTS-FACTIONS-FICTIONS

Deaths Battersea

Re-analysis… can be problematicalRe-analysis… can be problematical

CLEAN AIR ACT (1956) CLEAN AIR ACT (1956) SUCCESS OR FAILURESUCCESS OR FAILURE

Need historic measurements

EARLY MEASUREMENTSEARLY MEASUREMENTS

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50

75

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1700 1800 1900

Fog-daysModel SO2

Day/annum

g m-3 400

200

LONDON FOG and AIR POLLUTION

INNOVATION and IMAGINATIONINNOVATION and IMAGINATION

What was wrong with the smoke clauses of the Public Health Act (1936 )?

Challenges personal freedom by controlling what people could burn in their own homes

"chimney of any building..."

STRUCTURE OF THE ACTSTRUCTURE OF THE ACT

Many clauses PHA (1936) 6 CAA (1956) > 40

Detail in memoranda chimney heights smoke control areas industrial premises

Compare with EC/96/62 Air Quality Monitoring and Management Directive

DOUBTSDOUBTS

Not enough smokeless fuel...

CLEAN AIR ACT (1956) CLEAN AIR ACT (1956) SUCCESS OR FAILURESUCCESS OR FAILURE

Domestic transitions

Smokeless fuels Slow uptake of

smokeless zones in some areas

Failure to address SO2

Declining smoke and SO2 – even outside smokeless zones

IMPACT OF CAA(1956)IMPACT OF CAA(1956)

Regulated smoke not SO2

Applied in “Black” areas Implementaton often delayed

CAA(1956) CAA(1956) AFFECTS OUR CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAFFECTS OUR CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT

Personal freedom and the automobile congestion charges “public transport will never

cope…” buses make pollution

worse school runs - less than one

in 10 parents believe public transport can get their children to school

Bonfires in gardens Regulation of indoor spaces and furnishings

The world and London has changed – PM, winter NO2, summer ozone

CAA(1956) incorporated into CAA(1993)

Iconic status

CHANGE CHANGE IN IN

LONDONLONDON

THE BIG SMOKE THE BIG SMOKE AND LONDONAND LONDON

I desired to know what brought him so far from the big smoke

The Cruise of the Cachalot

Cleaning up the Big Smoke: Livingstone plans to cut carbon emissions by 60%· Londoners given 20-year target to go green· Flights could drastically affect success of campaign

The Guardian, February 27 2007