British Gas Research Station Including Attached Restaurant Block To South

The nearby £750,000 glass-fronted Norgas House had been officially opened in Killingworth on 16 July 1965 by the wife of Sir Henry Jones, the chairman of the Gas Council. It was the headquarters of the Northern Gas Board. The computer could churn out two gas bills per second. There were 705,000 customers, 6,200 employees, and a turnover of £2.7 million. Sir Henry Jones combined the twelve gas boards into British Gas in 1973. The Northern Gas Training Centre was also in Killingworth. The Gas Council also built a main national control centre on Coventry Road in Hinckley, Leicestershire in 1972. Construction of the £650,000 natural gas control centre had begun in January 1969, being announced…

The building was designed by Ryder & Yates in 1965, who also designed the Television Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne. Ryder and Yates had formed in 1953 in Newcastle. It was first announced in November 1965. It was built in anticipation of North Sea gas. Killingworth was a north-east new town, known as Killingworth Township. It was planned to open in the summer of 1968. It was built on the site of Killingworth Colliery. The modernist architecture is developed from Le Corbusier and Berthold Lubetkin.