"The chimneys are the most powerful part of the icon," Jim Eyre, director of Wilkinson Eyre, told CNN. "Take them away, and you don't have an icon. The coal fumes has decayed the concrete, so they have to come down. But we're going to painstakingly reconstruct them."

The old power station, which was built in the 1930s, will be replaced with a building that will house "retail space, offices and luxury 'villas.'" The project's first phase is scheduled to be complete in 2016.

In April of 2014, the Battersea Power Station Development Company organized the first in what it says will be an annual party at the plant "to celebrate the iconic building's ongoing development and welcome its future community." Elton John performed for guests including Grace Jones, Jeremy Renner and Kit Harrington from Game of Thrones.