On our way to the site hut in the 38 acres of muddy wastelands around the hulking structure that is Battersea Power Station, Rafael Viñoly takes me into a container and points to a stack of rolls of paper – the original architectural drawings for the site. This incredible collection was found in an archive in the now derelict building. As we pass another open container we glimpse a stack of models of past, failed proposals, each more ambitious than the last. “We might end up in there too,” he says with a grin.

Mr Viñoly’s new proposal outstrips any of the others for ambition. A 300-metre chimney towers over the upturned table of the old building, its glass veil sweeping out around it to encompass a vast development.