A date has been set for the demolition of Huddersfield’s last remaining gasholder – and the famous old Gas Club is to go too.

The iconic 127ft tall structure is to be dismantled early next year and the surrounding site flattened.

As well as the rusting steel gasholder, three other buildings are also being demolished including the former Gas Club, a popular stop-off for Huddersfield Town fans and also home to Rawthorpe Amateur Boxing Club for many years.

The gasholder in Gasworks Street, was once one of five in Huddersfield but gas production ceased in the town in the 1960s.

The gasholder has been disused for many years and had become home to a pair of nesting peregrine falcons where chicks have been born for several years.

Now the site owner, Northern Gas Networks, has submitted a planning application to Kirklees Council for demolition of the gasholder, a single-storey building known as ‘The Rail Shed’, a single garage called ‘The Anti-Freeze Building’ and also the former Gas Club.

 

 

Northern Gas Networks, along with the three other UK gas distribution companies, have agreed to demolish old gasholders on public safety grounds and reduce “unnecessary maintenance costs.”

The gasholder will be dismantled using a crane and the scrap metal recycled. A huge hole 66 metres (216ft) in diameter and 13 metres (42ft) deep will be left beneath the gasholder.

The hole will be filled to ground level, however Northern Gas Networks has no plans to “restore or remediate the site in any way.”

The planning application was submitted at the end of April and the company says it expects to start work on July 22 2024 and be completed by March 3 2025.

The company intends to sell the land on the open market which could make it a sought after plot being close to the council’s Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor, which is a prime economic development site.

A timetable of works on the planning application shows that asbestos will be removed from the old Gas Club this summer before it’s stripped out in September. A two-week demolition would start on October 1 2024.

The rail shed and anti-freeze building would be demolished in October before work starts in earnest on the gasholder. The crane lift dismantling work on the gasholder will start on January 7 2025 and be completed by the end of February.

On contamination, the planning documents say the site has previously been cleaned up however contamination remains below a depth of 4 metres.

 

 

The original gasholder on the site dates back to 1916 and it was rebuilt in 1968. However, Huddersfield Gas Works, which included a site across Gasworks Street – now a temporary car park and car boot sale venue – was built in 1821 and purchased by Huddersfield Corporation in 1872 for £130,336, according to historical documents published with the planning application.

 

 

 

 

Watch: Peregrines nest 120ft up on Huddersfield’s gas holder