An icon

A meeting yesterday with National Grid confirms they are to seek approval to demolish the Granton gas tower. They claim it will cost £5.2 million to repair and a further £2.2m to clean the contaminated land (though they will have to pay this anyway). In its place they are willing to erect a circular iconic building (for either public use or as private housing) and to use the steel lattice work in some other appropriate way on site. I understand their difficulties but I am deeply unhappy.

There are 3 landmark buildings on the Granton waterfront: Caroline Park House, the Lighthouse and the Gas Tower. All 3 need to be retained since they are all critical icons of the area's past. I think National Grid should be campaigning for public monies to keep the tower (where else is there such a vivid visual reminder of Edinburgh's industrial heritage?) and to think of imaginative ways to keep it...£10 million is not too much to secure such an important piece of Granton's history.