Picture caption: Gasholder Park, King’s Cross. Picture credit: Katherine Carlyon on Unsplash

Anyone who has lived near working gasholders – or gasometers – knows they look different on any given day. The internal bell rises and falls inside the cast iron frame, waxing and waning with the volume of gas. Now decommissioned, they’re a symbol of a bygone era and to some, a celebration of our industrial heritage.

The question is, should we be preserving these gasometers, intact? Or is it preferable to keep the essence of the gasometer, while also creating space for housing? With gasometers having been demolished in large numbers since the early 2000s, the preservation of the remaining examples is something people feel strongly about.

As ever, decisions around preservation are generally economically driven. While people living and working near gasometers may feel an affection for the structures and enjoy seeing them on their commutes or weekend walks, this doesn’t mean that every single one can be preserved in situ.

Often, gasometers cannot easily be kept, as they can be in a poor state of repair. Which is why one of the best opportunities for preservation is to refurbish and make use of the structure as part of a housing scheme.

The latest gasworks development to be approved is the Bromley-by-Bow Gasworks, with Newham Council approving plans to build up to 2,200 homes, 166 of which will be social housing. The scheme includes shops, cafes, offices and a new park along the River Lea.

This project is being led by St William, a joint venture between the National Grid and Berkeley Group, which was established in 2014 to build new homes on redundant gas sites. There are seven Grade II listed gasholders at the 23-acre Bromley-by-Bow Gasworks, and each will be restored as part of the scheme.

Designed in partnership with RSHP Architects, many of the homes are to be built within the cast iron structures. Even the flats being built outside of the gasometer frames will be cylindrical, and one of the iron frames will surround a new circular lake and community space. Work is set to begin in 2025.

The Bromley-by-Bow project is by no means the first of its kind. If you’ve been in the vicinity of King’s Cross lately, you might have spotted Gasholder Park – a park inside a restored gasometer – alongside apartment buildings also built within gasholder structures.

However, it is possible to preserve a gasholder without adding apartments. After a local campaign, a gasometer in Great Yarmouth was given Grade II listed status. The Admiralty Road gasometer has been part of the skyline since 1884, and National Grid has been given planning permission to refurbish the 14-column Victorian frame, although the tank will be removed. A neighbouring 1960s gasometer has already been dismantled.

Some purists would love every gasholder to be kept in situ, dominating skylines as they have done for decades, but it makes sense to use our brownfield sites for housing where possible. If these structures can be preserved rather than sent to landfill, while also creating new homes, then that’s a win-win scenario.

What do you think of gasometers? Are they a great reminder of our heritage, or an eyesore that should be taken down?

Meanwhile, if you need assistance with the structural elements of an upcoming project, please do get in touch.