Council Leader Jane Meagher was joined by Minister for Employment and Investment Tom Arthur, representatives from the main contractor McLaughlin & Harvey, as well as volunteers from Granton Hub and members of Pianodrome, Scran Academy and Craigroyston Youth Football Club to at Gasholder 1 on Friday.
The official opening of the park will take place on Saturday 5 April with a family fun day and ribbon cutting ceremony.
The park has six different zones including three play areas with a wide range of play equipment. There is plenty of outdoor space to explore and an inner ring walk going round the outer edges of the frame with a range of places to sit and relax. An outdoor exhibition has also been created which showcases the history of Granton gasworks as well as the restoration process.
The park which extends to 1.2 hectares is set within the old gas holder frame and was funded by the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme. Funding from the UK Government of more than £16 million allowed the gas holder to be refurbished. The bell underneath was also removed. The gas holder is now permanently lit each evening and is regarded as a beacon in the north of the city.
A new sculpture of a humpback whale was installed recently and is the work of artist Svetland Kondakova Muir.
Council Leader Jane Meagher will be joined by a club member of the Craigroyston Youth Community Football Club on Saturday to officially cut the ribbon. She said: “The Gasholder 1 Park opening is a huge milestone reached for the £1.3bn Granton Waterfront project. It is really inspiring to look out over this important piece of coastal land for our Capital city and see these much needed homes and other facilities literally springing up out of the ground.
“The new park is a fantastic addition for local communities and the hundreds of new tenants including families who have recently moved into the homes we have built for social and mid-market rent in the area. Many of these are on land immediately surrounding the new park and I’m delighted to say that many more homes are being planned or under construction which will be ready for hundreds of new tenants in the next few years.
“The historic gasholder gives the new park a unique look and feel and it will also be seen for miles around as the restored frame is lit up after dark.
“This exciting opening follows the restoration of the former Granton Station building and the new public square also created to provide a sense of place for the local community which opened to great fanfare in March 2023.
“I’m delighted to cut the ribbon on Saturday to open this exciting new space for the local community as well as the thousands of other visitors I’m sure it will attract from Edinburgh and beyond in the years to come.”
Investment Minister Tom Arthur said: “We have contributed £1.2 million towards transformation of Granton’s Gasholder from a derelict site to a vibrant and accessible space for people to enjoy.
“This is part of wider efforts to regenerate the Granton area, including a recent project supported by the Scottish Government to transform derelict industrial units at Granton Waterfront into communal spaces.
“To help communities thrive, we are providing £62.15 million towards regeneration in 2025-26. This will support projects which revitalise green spaces, town centres and derelict sites to benefit people across Scotland.”
UK Government Minister for Local Growth, Alex Norris, said: “Having visited Granton earlier in the year, it is wonderful to see the new Gasholder 1 Park will be opening this week. This green space will really bring the community together, from young families to elderly residents and visitors to the City.
“The refurbishment of the derelict gas holder structure has provided a real beacon of light to Edinburgh, retaining its unique history and character, while wider transformation work is underway to Granton Waterfront. This is exactly the kind of collaboration and locally led growth we want to see all across Scotland and the UK in our mission to boost growth and renewal as part of our Plan for Change.”
Graham Brown, Senior Contracts Manager at McLaughlin & Harvey, said: “Gasholder 1 Park was a unique restoration project to deliver for the City of Edinburgh Council. In deconstructing the old bell, refurbishing the listed steel structure, and repainting the frame, we have solved complex engineering challenges. The ribbon cutting ceremony is a brilliant opportunity for McLaughlin & Harvey to celebrate the vast civil engineering experience of our team as well as the success achieved in our collaboration with our client and supply chain partners.”
The family fun day on Saturday will include:
Community singalong with Pianodrome at 11am
Ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11.15am with Council Leader Jane Meagher
Family arts and craft activities
Penalty shoot-outs with Craigroyston Community Youth Football Club
Free ice cream
Free face painting
Exhibition stalls
All photos courtesy of The Scottish Government
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