Standing Building Recording

Date 20 January 2020 - 25 January 2020

Event ID 1125575

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1125575

Gasholder No 1: NS 62021 66262, Gasholder No 2: NS 62116 66304, Gasholder No 3: NS 62467 66917, Offices: NS 62401 66449, Workshops: NS 62410 66494, Control Room: NS 62290 66375, Sub-station: NS 62373 66526 A historic building survey was undertaken of redundant Gasholders Nos 1–3 on Blochairn Road in Provan, Glasgow in advance of demolition. The work was done on 20–25 January 2020.

The Provan gasworks has been a functioning site since 1904 with several different phases of gas production and storage on site during its ongoing 116-year lifespan. Gasholders Nos 1–3 and several brick structures are no longer in use, although the site is still in daily operation using high pressure gas apparatus. The site was once the largest gasworks in Scotland but today over half the site is empty with the work areas concentrated in the south. The gasworks were highly regarded for gas production due to the constantly evolving apparatus and techniques used to manufacture high quality gas economically. The site was originally built to fulfil the growing demands for gas in homes and businesses across central Scotland and continued to successfully fulfil these demands until natural gas use became more economical at the end of the 1960s.

Gasholders Nos 1 and 2 were built in 1903 during the site’s initial construction making Gasholder No. 2 one of the oldest in Scotland, behind only Granton, Edinburgh. Gasholder No. 1 was later rebuilt identically in the early 1950s. Their variation of the Type 32 design guide frame was common around the time of original construction.

Gasholder No. 3 was built in 1970, a late date for any gasholder construction although the spiral-guided style was the most common design in the later gasholders.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: SGN

Diana Sproat and Gemma Hudson − AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES Vol 21)