Gasholder No.13, Old Kent Road former gasworks

Gasholder No.13, part of the former Old Kent Road gasworks, was built between 1879 and 1881 by engineer George Livesey and contractors Ashmore & While for the South Metropolitan Gas Company, with the tank constructed by Dowcra & Sons. It was repaired by Clayton & Son Ltd in 1942 following war damage.

The gasholder is a frame-guided holder with a capacity of 5.5 cubic meters, representing the largest of its kind globally at the time of construction. Its structure consists of 22 slender wrought-iron standards attached to five tiers of horizontal members. The original four lower tiers of struts are of riveted cruciform section, while the top tier is a rolled-steel semi-box girder added in 1942, classified as Type 41 in Tucker's Typology. The frame demonstrated a new structural principle, treating the guide frame as a single, large cylinder. It stands 48.8 meters high and approximately 66.5 meters in diameter.

The standards are I-section plate girders, tapering slightly towards the top, with a depth of just over 0.5 meters at the base where they are bolted to shallow cast-iron plates. Strong diagonal bracing of flat wrought-iron bars forms intersecting helices with 10 crossings along the frame’s height. These bars connect between the inner and outer faces of the standards, riveted to gusset plates, and are clipped together at crossing points with lozenge-shaped cover plates. A walkway and handrail are incorporated into the top girder. Access from ground level is provided by five ladders with four intermediate rest platforms on the north side of the gasholder. Steel wire rope Paddon wind ties support the top of the frame.

The three-lift iron bell rises on both radial and tangential rollers from an in-ground tank; after wartime damage, the untrussed crown, originally featuring a steel top-curb, was replaced. The two lower lifts retain cups and grips of George Piggott’s rounded profile, and the lowest lift has D-section external stiffeners of Livesey's bent-plate pattern. Guide rails for the bell are riveted to the inside edge of the standards. The tank itself is constructed of Portland Cement concrete with an internal cement render layer reinforced by 25 iron hoops embedded within the wall.