Gas guzzler
Property developers , Issue 1631 ONE of the first post-election photocalls attended by chancellor Rachel Reeves and housing secretary Angela Rayner saw them grinning in high-vis and hard hats bearing the insignia of building firm Berkeley Group.

Chief executive Rob Perrins was showing them around its Oval Village site, where the gas tower visible in every televised match at the cricket ground will be incorporated into a development including more than 700 homes and 10,000 square metres of commercial space. It's one of 30 former gasworks sites in London and the south-east jointly owned by National Grid and Berkeley under the trade name St William.

Toxin match
Reeves and Rayner might have been better advised to wear industrial facemasks. Scientific research continues into reports of mass breathing difficulties, headaches, nausea, vomiting and mental confusion after contaminated land on a Southall gasworks was dug up for a similar Berkeley development in 2017-18.

These industrial relics leave a legacy of tanks containing toxic sludge, air and water, demolished buildings and infrastructure which together contain such carcinogenic delights as benzene, toluene, xylene, arsenic, cyanide, asbestos and naphthalene. These must be expertly removed at great cost, meaning most developers won't touch them.

Berkeley prides itself on its ambition to "unlock some of the most technically complex regeneration sites at the heart of communities across London and the South of England" – laudable in the face of extreme housing shortages. However, three-bed flats at the Oval start at £1.4m.

Air of disapproval
Similar applications in other areas have met with huge local resistance. In Brighton, revised plans for a high-rise mixed-space development have recently been turned down by the city council. More than 1,700 people objected, galvanised by campaigners from Aghast (Action on Gasworks Housing Safety, Affordability & Transparency).

Berkeley says it would pump out toxic sludge from two tanks on the site: the worst would be carried to a specialist cleaning site, the rest washed into the wastewater system, and gases would be released into the air mixed with "odour suppressants". Once airborne, these gases are said to be impossible to control.

Other areas of contamination are noted to have "exceedances" of naphthalene and other toxins. The Environment Agency has said it is confident any contamination will be "limited". However, the remediation industry devises its own risk measurements for residents on the basis of occupational exposure, without independent medical or scientific oversight.

Safety catch
Safety has been another issue. Berkeley had to redesign several developments – including those in Brighton and the Oval – because the tower blocks did not feature secondary means of escape.

However, the government is on a drive to meet housing need by relaxing planning rules and building on brownfield sites – which make up 87 percent of Berkeley's projects.

This could see Brighton and other gasworks developments pushed past local opposition before results of the research into possible health hazards come in – some fear, with watered-down building requirements.