New homes in London: Old Kent Road's £230m transformation around capital's largest surviving gasholder
One of London’s largest surviving Victorian gasholders is to be reborn as a “post-industrial” architectural installation in an urban park.
The 160ft-high wrought iron frame of gasholder number 13 is one of the last remnants of the Old Kent Road gasworks, which supplied Southwark, Croydon, Lambeth and Streatham from the 1830s onwards.
It has not been used to store gas for more than a decade but was acquired this week by developer Avanton.
It plans to build hundreds of homes and offices on a four-acre site with the gasholder at the centre of the £230 million development.
The Grade II-listed structure was the biggest in the world when it was completed by engineer George Livesey, Secretary of the South Metropolitan Gas Company, in 1881.
The design of its metal skeleton was regarded as revolutionary at the time with unusually thin upright struts.
Early plans for its future use suggest that it would encase a pavilion, water features and gardens at the heart of the new development.
Until the 1990s hundreds of gasometers dominated Britain’s urban skyline.
Now only a handful of listed examples survive, including the famous gasholder that lent its name to one end of the Oval cricket ground, and three at King’s Cross, where they now encircle cylindrical blocks of flats.
Avanton now has three sites in Old Kent Road following the purchase of land at what is now known as the Ruby Triangle scheme and another plot formerly occupied by a Carpetright store.
The £800 million trio of developments are due to provide more than 2,100 new homes in total.
Avanton managing partner Omer Weinberger said: “The £230 million scheme will result in a significant contribution to the local community through the provision of homes, a substantial commercial offering and public open space.
“Our trio of projects will help to spearhead the transformation of Old Kent Road into a new town centre for London. Alongside this there is the planned extension of the Bakerloo line with two new stations on Old Kent Road.”
