The Wandsworth Gasworks was built in 1834 and by the early 20th Century supplied much of South West London as one of the country’s most important Gasworks. The remaining spiral-guided holder could not be re-purposed in its entirety but the vast remaining below-ground infrastructure represents the last opportunity to reflect and celebrate the historic importance and townscape presence of this industrial past. In embodied carbon terms alone, retaining and re-using the basin, in lieu of constructing a new basement of the same footprint, saves over 4000 tonnes EC02, which is the approximate equivalent of building 106 homes at LETI 2025 guidance rates.
Our concept for ‘Plot B’ retains the gasholder basin and references both the scale and the circular form of the holder itself. This circular mass consists of a large donut-shape podium base with 3 blocks emerging from it, all of which appear carved out from a single circular volume mirroring the former mass of the holder. Slicing strategic cuts through the circular courtyard podium enables us to integrate pedestrian movement through the public realm, aligning with core masterplan connectivity and opening up the site, making Plot B a key node and way-finder in the masterplan. Later Living brings a raft of shared amenity functions (some of which can be publicly accessible), which, along with commercial uses at ground enable us to create active outward facing uses on both the outer and inner faces of the circular courtyard podium.