This is my first report - feedback welcome! 
History of the Governor House
This information comes from the excellent Reading Museum: https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/blog/goodbye-gasholders
The Governor House was part of the Reading Gasworks, and was built in 1903 to support the growing gas distribution network in Reading. The House was built on part of a 13-acre site that the Reading Gas Company purchased from the famous Huntley & Palmers biscuit company in 1880. There are two remaining buildings on the site, the governor house itself and a social club. The club was extended in 1912 and apparently had constant hot water, a rare feature at the time. Both buildings are now derelict, and a proposal has been made to create 20 dwellings by converting and extending these buildings. Planning permission was granted in 2016, but as far as I can tell no one has taken this up yet. Offers are invited in excess of £1.5m, if you’re feeling flush and fancy a project.
Exploring the site
We stumbled across the site unexpectedly, in a wander around Reading, which had started with a peer at the Huntley & Palmers building, appropriately enough. There is no difficulty in accessing the site, and both buildings are clearly well-used, containing a couple of tents, kettles, random bits of clothing, a lot of needles and even a bike. As we explored we were nervous of disturbing someone so made sure to make our presence known, but didn’t see anyone. All the same I was a bit wary of lingering too long taking photos. There is lots of graffiti, and someone has recently erected a plasterboard wall in the large upstairs room of the main house - my best guess is that it’s for an art project of some sort. Apparently the Uni’s architecture department did a project on potential uses for the site recently, but I’m not sure it’s associated with that.
The rooms of the workingmen’s club are mostly large and airy with beautiful arched windows and several fireplaces. There is an interesting wooden gantry/small gangway the whole length of the main room, a dozen feet up. As well as the human population, there are clearly a lot of resident pigeons.
The governor house itself is a large empty space with a big drop down to the (current) floor, with several large, old gas mains emerging into it. There’s a strong smell of gas, and more evidence that people are living here. We didn’t head down into the space itself (I was a little wary of potential issues climbing back out again, and the smell of gas was quite off-putting). We headed off soon after.
Photos
The social club (exterior)
Downstairs rooms
Upstairs room
Exterior - the social club fire escape and the governor house in the background
The old gas mains
History of the Governor House
This information comes from the excellent Reading Museum: https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/blog/goodbye-gasholders
The Governor House was part of the Reading Gasworks, and was built in 1903 to support the growing gas distribution network in Reading. The House was built on part of a 13-acre site that the Reading Gas Company purchased from the famous Huntley & Palmers biscuit company in 1880. There are two remaining buildings on the site, the governor house itself and a social club. The club was extended in 1912 and apparently had constant hot water, a rare feature at the time. Both buildings are now derelict, and a proposal has been made to create 20 dwellings by converting and extending these buildings. Planning permission was granted in 2016, but as far as I can tell no one has taken this up yet. Offers are invited in excess of £1.5m, if you’re feeling flush and fancy a project.
Exploring the site
We stumbled across the site unexpectedly, in a wander around Reading, which had started with a peer at the Huntley & Palmers building, appropriately enough. There is no difficulty in accessing the site, and both buildings are clearly well-used, containing a couple of tents, kettles, random bits of clothing, a lot of needles and even a bike. As we explored we were nervous of disturbing someone so made sure to make our presence known, but didn’t see anyone. All the same I was a bit wary of lingering too long taking photos. There is lots of graffiti, and someone has recently erected a plasterboard wall in the large upstairs room of the main house - my best guess is that it’s for an art project of some sort. Apparently the Uni’s architecture department did a project on potential uses for the site recently, but I’m not sure it’s associated with that.
The rooms of the workingmen’s club are mostly large and airy with beautiful arched windows and several fireplaces. There is an interesting wooden gantry/small gangway the whole length of the main room, a dozen feet up. As well as the human population, there are clearly a lot of resident pigeons.
The governor house itself is a large empty space with a big drop down to the (current) floor, with several large, old gas mains emerging into it. There’s a strong smell of gas, and more evidence that people are living here. We didn’t head down into the space itself (I was a little wary of potential issues climbing back out again, and the smell of gas was quite off-putting). We headed off soon after.
Photos
The social club (exterior)
Downstairs rooms
Upstairs room
Exterior - the social club fire escape and the governor house in the background
The old gas mains
