Protecting our environment
Reducing our environmental impact
Gas holders (gasometers) used to be a common sight on the skylines of the UK’s cities, towns and villages but are no longer needed for operation of a modern gas network. We have committed to decontaminate and dismantle all of our remaining 23 gas holders by 2026 and are ahead of schedule, having completed 20 by the end of 2023/24.
We also have a programme of cleaning up contamination left beneath our land from bygone eras. During 2023/24 we completed long-term remediation works at Howdon Gas Holder Station with a total of c.58,000 litres of hazardous waste recovered from inside an infilled below-ground former gas holder tank., and we will deliver another 8 projects by 2026.
Creating ‘Homes for Nature’
In 2018 we launched a commitment to help biodiversity on our landholding by creating 250 ‘homes for nature’ by 2026. We are well on the way with this commitment and have achieved 96 by the end of 2023/24 and established a strategy to achieve our target.
Tree Planting to Tackle Air Pollution
We have also continued our strategic tree planting programme in our region to tackle poor urban air quality, planting 22,400 trees across 30 sites in 2023/24. This means by the end of 2023/24 we have already surpassed our target for 2026 to plant 40,000 trees.
