RSHP Transforms 150-Year-Old Victorian Gasholders Into A Mixed-Use Residential Hub In London, UK...

More details: Visit website

RSHP's design proposal for the Bromley-By-Bow Gasworks regeneration project has just been approved by the London Borough of Newham's Strategic Development Committee. The 23-acre site dates back to the 1870s, housing the largest collection of Victorian gasholders worldwide, making the project one of the largest regeneration proposals in the Lower Lea Valley in London. After three years of design development, the scheme reimagines the gas holders into a mixed-use development offering new high-quality residential architecture.

Situated in a historically fragmented part of London , largely inaccessible for the past 150 years, the site is adjacent to distribution warehouses and light- industrial retail parks. With particular site constraints, the project preserves and refurbishes these gas holders as "heritage assets," making them a core principle of the proposal. The new scheme features two typologies: "gas holder" and "pencil" buildings. While gas holder buildings are within the refurbished gas holder frames, the taller pencil buildings occupy the site's periphery, marking circulation routes. Both typologies aim to transform the circular architectural form into a multi-faceted polygonal perimeter. Boasting varying colors across vertical heights, the form and materials of the buildings within the gas holders are inspired by the initial frames, preserving their silhouette.

The heritage -led transformation aims to create a mixed-use development offering new residential homes adaptable to housing needs. Additionally, flexible spaces are planned for commercial and community use, including accessible public open spaces and a new riverside park. The footprint of a gas holder destroyed in WWII will be retained as a central water feature, and the relocated substructure of Gasholder No. 4 is designed to become a community hub that hosts activities and programs activating the public realm. All these features seek to reconnect the site with the surrounding neighborhood and transport infrastructure via pedestrian and cycling paths, creating a new place to live, work, and spend time.