Shame on you Bath if you let your last remaining gasometer disappear from the skyline without even an attempt at a fight for funding to give it a new lease of life and save for posterity – in some form – this last major symbol of Bath’s industrial past.
Vienna in Austria managed to find new uses for a line up of four brick-encased gasometers which were turned into apartments, offices and shopping malls.
While in Dublin – a gasometer very much like the one in Bath – was transformed into apartments with reflective glass making the whole massive structure both light and delicate.
There is an internal light well built into all the conversions illustrated here.
I still think Bath could transform its gasometer into a much-needed Concert Hall and add something very special to the city’s bank of architectural treasures.
This is a city of curves and circles. The gasometer is an industrial version of The Circus! It could be Bath’s Albert Hall.
Obviously no lessons have been learned. Back in 2002 in the television series l did for Carlton called Set in Stone:The building of Bath – produced and directed by Howard Perks – l suggested the city needed an iconic building on the Western Riverside development.
