Feel the force

The government's announcement last week, which gave the goahead for a series of new-build
nuclear power plants in the UK, is set to provide the industry with one of the most challenging projects of the decade.
The nuclear power stations that currently adorn the UK landscape are utilitarian in design at best and lack every sense of aesthetics when it comes to design. What the industry has been given is a
chance to change perceptions and create power stations that the nation can be proud of – that will enhance rather than spoil the landscape.
Another important debate and challenge to designers is how we fit the new power stations into the natural habitat to add to rather than demean the existing landscape and its future resources. But what ambitious and motivated designer doesn't seek this type of challenge? Issues such as scale, size and location are not insurmountable and working at the heart of our business.
We won't be able to hide these stations away, so let's provide the best external envelope we can.

Martin Pease, managing director, Atkins Design