More than 2,000 people have signed a petition to save the historic Marian Place gasholder site from a housing development.
The petition urges St William Homes to change its plans for the site, which is currently owned by the National Grid.
Campaigners from The East End Waterway Group argue that the two nineteenth century gasholders are historical landmarks that should be preserved.
Gasholders were built to store coal gas, which served most British homes before the introduction of natural gas in the mid-twentieth century. Since then, many of these large steel structures have sat dormant on canalsides.
The petition states that one of the gasholders is “the earliest and most ‘classical’ surviving example of its type in the world”.
Labour Councillor Emma Plouviez endorsed the campaign, tweeting that “there is something so lovely about the space and sky that these structures hold.”
In 2016, the gasholders were named as one of Time Out magazine’s “seven alternative wonders of London” for “representing an integral part of Bethnal Green’s identity”.
St William Homes says its development will “celebrate the character of the site and the area’s strong identity and sense of place” and acknowledges that the gasholders are “unique in both use and character”. It cautions, however, that in order to create jobs and build new homes “it may require some trade-offs to be made”.
The National Grid and St William Homes also partnered to develop the Battersea gasholder site, leading to its demolition in 2017.
