The site of Bradford Low Carbon Hydrogen at Birkshall has a rich heritage. It will soon be transformed to produce hydrogen, a cleaner form of energy which can replace natural gas, but was previously home to three of Bradford’s oldest gas holders with the site producing and storing gas for use by Bradford’s homes and businesses.

The gasworks site was a huge engineering project carried out in the 1930s, which manufactured ‘town gas’ to meet the city’s heating needs, which was then stored inside the three gas holders.

Built by Clayton & Sons, the telescopic constructions were capable of storing 18,000 tonnes of water, which held the gas inside before this was slowly released daily at peak times in line with local energy demand.

Because of advances in technology and the enhanced capability of the modern-day gas network, the three holders have not been used for decades and the decision was taken to remove them

When the holders were removed from the site around two years ago, and demolition team found three time capsules which had been placed inside the structure back in 1937.

Each contains a copy of the Telegraph & Argus newspaper and documents listing the date of the construction and engineering, overseen by the Bradford Gas Corporation and Chief Engineer G.E. Currier.

Mr G.E. Currier, Chief Engineer. Picture courtesy of the Bradford Telegraph & Argus.