West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1RH
In the 1890s, gas was being produced in Edinburgh City, Portobello, and in Leith. All the sites were operating at full capacity. It was decided to build
a substantial new single-site gasworks capable of future expansion. Following negotiation with the sixth Duke of Buccleuch, a 43 Hectare site
at Granton was purchased for £124,000. An impressive structure, the most elegant gas holder in Scotland in terms of its external framing, was erected as part of a £450,000 stateof-the-art coal gasworks between 1898 and 1903, under the direction of engineer WR Herring.
Gas Holder Number 1, still standing and fully renovated today, has an external framework constructed of riveted rolled steel. It has 26 vertical columns with finials, divided into four tiers by horizontal tie beams with latticework bracing between. The gasholder had a capacity of 180,000 cubic metres, and was built on the telescopic principle, with four lifts. The masonry tank, within which the holder moved up and down, was 77 metres in diameter and 11 metres deep.
Gas manufacturing stopped in 1987 and the gasholder is now Category B Listed as a building of architectural and historic interest. Two more gasholders, built in 1933 and 1966 respectively, were demolished in 2003-4.
