Apple will be the biggest occupier in the newly refurbished power station
(Picture: Charlie Round-Turner )Apple boss Tim Cook has flown in to visit the iPhone giant’s new London headquarters at Battersea Power station for the first time.
The chief executive of the world’s most valuable company is understood to have arrived in the UK yesterday (Sunday) for a round of meetings ahead of Apple staff moving into the restored former generator early in the New Year.
Mr Cook, who is due to stay in London for several days, said: “Apple has been part of the London community for more than 40 years, and we’re thrilled to soon bring some of our teams together in the historic Battersea Power Station.
“Once a source of energy for much of London, the transformation this building has undergone honours London’s past and celebrates its future. We’re so glad to be a part of it.”
Earlier this month, the company unveiled four iPhones, three Apple Watches and a new set of AirPod Pro earbuds at its annual launch event, held at its California headquarters.
Apple announced on Monday that it had begun manufacturing the new iPhone 14s in India, as it begins looking for alternative production locations to China amid geopolitical tensions and pandemic restrictions that have disrupted supply chains.
“The new iPhone 14 lineup introduces groundbreaking new technologies and important safety capabilities. We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India,” Apple said.
The Standard revealed in 2016 that Apple would be the main office occupier at Battersea, taking more than 500,000 sq ft of space designed by Foster + Partners over six floors.
Bricks used for the interior fit-out were hand-fired at the same quarry in Gloucestershire that made the original bricks over 70 years ago.
Mr Cook’s visit comes ahead of the official opening to the public of the grade II*-listed former coal fired power station on 14th October 2022 almost 40 years after it stopped producing power for London.
It will have more than 100 shops, bars, restaurants, and a 24,000 sq ft food hall in the former Boiler House opening next year.
About 2,000 residents have already moved in to the power station itself and other new buildings in the £9 billion development. A new spur of the Northern Line to the site opened a year ago.
At its peak Battersea Power Station generated about as fifth of London’s electricity needs but it was decommissioned in 1983. A series of attempts to restore the building under different owners failed before it was bought by a Malaysian-led consortium in 2012.
