Dynamic lighting brings Granton Gasholder Park to life
July 1 2025
A towering industrial relic in Granton has been shown in a new light with the completion of a £20m restoration and regeneration initiative.
Granton Gasholder Park has transformed the northern skyline of Edinburgh by repurposing the 165ft tall structure into a beacon for broader waterfront regeneration.
Optimised Environments, Tetra Tech and Thorn Lighting have transformed the site into the city's newest public space, harnessing the power of light to showcase the sculptural quality of the 1901 gasholder.
The new look includes oversized Corten steel lettering and high contrast floodlights mounted directly on the structure with concealed cables, which can be programmed for specific scenes and events.
Lighting columns are also used to pick out pathways after dark Illuminating all 100,000 rivets and 26 columns, the project also includes walking trails, play areas and a central sculpture of a breaching humpback whale.
Concealed lights bring 24/7 activation to the park
The park blends industrial heritage with support for community events and public art
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16 Comments
#1 Posted by TheFakeArchitect on 1 Jul 2025 at 14:26 PM
Wait, 20 million...?
#2 Posted by Cadmonkey on 1 Jul 2025 at 14:58 PM
£20 million.
At a tenth of the price it would have been an unbelievable waste of public money.
Haven’t met a single person who likes it.
Who gets away with making these awful decisions?
At a tenth of the price it would have been an unbelievable waste of public money.
Haven’t met a single person who likes it.
Who gets away with making these awful decisions?
#3 Posted by Freshly on 1 Jul 2025 at 21:55 PM
Criminal waste of public money on this sh*t. Really, £20 million?
#4 Posted by Jimbob on 2 Jul 2025 at 06:05 AM
Just awful
£20M of public money wasted
Change is needed
£20M of public money wasted
Change is needed
#5 Posted by Lovely on 2 Jul 2025 at 07:33 AM
No wonder we have a housing emergency and environmental emergency if we are able waste our communal resources on such an astronomically expensive silly wee studenty project like this.
#6 Posted by Mies Van Der Toe on 2 Jul 2025 at 08:28 AM
Having read it was £12-15m previously, I was genuinely excited that this would be next level place and playmaking- cutting through all the pointless spend on signage/ lighting/ restoration- what Edinburgh Council have done is wasted £20m on a very very basic play park- decision making of those responsible should be called in. We are seeing more and more of this wastage by Councils- we need better procurement and smart value spending now
#7 Posted by KLD on 2 Jul 2025 at 09:04 AM
Restoring the Gasholder was a legal requirement for the surrounding land to be redeveloped. No Gasholder = no £1.3 billion regeneration project = no new homes.
#8 Posted by CADMonkey on 2 Jul 2025 at 11:33 AM
#7 KLD
Can you provide a link to where you got that info?
Can you provide a link to where you got that info?
#9 Posted by KLD on 2 Jul 2025 at 20:01 PM
#8 CADMonkey
Mentioned on page 10 of the Levelling Up application: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/30144/levelling-up-fund-application-form
Mentioned on page 10 of the Levelling Up application: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/30144/levelling-up-fund-application-form
#10 Posted by CADMonkey on 2 Jul 2025 at 21:12 PM
That's not a "legal requirement", that's just a Levelling Up Application for funds to refurb it, using wider investment as justification. I bet the Muirhouse/Pilton/Granton residents were not told it would cost £20 million.
Suggesting that quantity of levelling up money was dependant on spending an eyewatering £20,000,000 on the redundant gas holder is ridiculous.
Where has the rest of the £1,180,000,000 been spent?
Suggesting that quantity of levelling up money was dependant on spending an eyewatering £20,000,000 on the redundant gas holder is ridiculous.
Where has the rest of the £1,180,000,000 been spent?
#11 Posted by KLD on 2 Jul 2025 at 22:54 PM
#8 CADMonkey
You are misunderstanding. It was a legal requirement of the Council acquiring the site from National Grid that it restore the Gasholder. This was a condition of sale. The Council subsequently secured Levelling Up funding towards the restoration works.
https://www.nationalgrid.com/document/127916/download
£1.3 billion is the projected value of the wider Granton regeneration. Again, this would not have been possible without the restoration of the Gasholder.
You are misunderstanding. It was a legal requirement of the Council acquiring the site from National Grid that it restore the Gasholder. This was a condition of sale. The Council subsequently secured Levelling Up funding towards the restoration works.
https://www.nationalgrid.com/document/127916/download
£1.3 billion is the projected value of the wider Granton regeneration. Again, this would not have been possible without the restoration of the Gasholder.
#12 Posted by TARA on 3 Jul 2025 at 11:00 AM
Kings Cross knock off?? Nice idea but very poorly executed. The horrible off the shelf play area and randomly placed structure are very amateur.
#13 Posted by KMCA on 3 Jul 2025 at 12:47 PM
#10 CADMonkey
In fact, we were told, and local residents overwhelmingly supported it. There's always a cost attached to these things and as you'll know, its often very expensive to work with heritage assets. Considering the initial regeneration area along Waterfront Avenue was to be served by the trams, this represents a significant saving on the likely costs of fulfilling that part of the brief today.
Glad to see the area finally benefitting from some placemaking investment.
In fact, we were told, and local residents overwhelmingly supported it. There's always a cost attached to these things and as you'll know, its often very expensive to work with heritage assets. Considering the initial regeneration area along Waterfront Avenue was to be served by the trams, this represents a significant saving on the likely costs of fulfilling that part of the brief today.
Glad to see the area finally benefitting from some placemaking investment.
#14 Posted by CADMonkey on 3 Jul 2025 at 18:18 PM
#13
"Placemaking investment" LOL.
Nobody goes there.
#11
"It was a legal requirement of the Council acquiring the site from National Grid that it restore the Gasholder."
That sounds like deal of the century for National Grid!!! They must have had a lot of champagne that night. FFS.
"Placemaking investment" LOL.
Nobody goes there.
#11
"It was a legal requirement of the Council acquiring the site from National Grid that it restore the Gasholder."
That sounds like deal of the century for National Grid!!! They must have had a lot of champagne that night. FFS.
#15 Posted by End User #23123 on 5 Jul 2025 at 15:51 PM
Am sure all the homeless, precarious workers and food bank users will be overjoyed as such a valuable use of their public funds to light up a few steel columns at almost £1,000,000 a pop!
Surely we can do better than this, not even an interesting scheme in any way, shape or form.
Surely we can do better than this, not even an interesting scheme in any way, shape or form.
#16 Posted by KLD on 7 Jul 2025 at 09:40 AM
#15 End User #23123
The £20m was spent on stabilising and repairing the structure.
The £20m was spent on stabilising and repairing the structure.
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