Gasklockan was a

gasometer A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressu ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Sweden. It was 81 meters tall and stored up to 100,000 cubic meters of gas while in use between 1933 and 1993. After it was taken out of use several possible uses were suggested, most notably painting it like a can of Coca-Cola for the

1995 World Championships in Athletics The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden on 5–13 August 1995. This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nat ...

. None of those plans were realized with the owners, Göteborg Energi applying for permission to demolish the building in 1999. The building was demolished in 2017 after many complications among them two endangered falcons nesting on top of the building and various processes being appealed.

Original usage

Gasklockan entered usage in 1933 at the Gullbergsvass gasworks, which was at the time the largest gasworks in Sweden. It was in the shape of a 20 sided

polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...

with an internal diameter of and a height of with a gas capacity of .

Other uses

After Gasklockan stopped being used for storing gas in 1993 many other uses have been proposed. The most famous of these is

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, ...

's proposal to repaint it to look like a can of

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

for an ad campaign in connection to the

. The proposal was later withdrawn after complaints from locals. There have also been many other suggestions, among them an exhibition hall, climbing center, museum, hotel and dance stage. While empty it was used for a few purposes including recording several music videos, including Glorious by

Andreas Johnson Jon Erik Andreas Johnson (born 22 March 1970 in Bjärred, Sweden) _Biography_))).html" ;"title="allmusic ((( Andreas Johnson > Biography )))">allmusic ((( Andreas Johnson > Biography )))/ref> is a Swedish pop/rock singer-songwriter and musician ...

, a sonic art installation by

Åke Parmerud Åke Parmerud (born 24 July 1953) is a Swedish composer, musician, and multimedia artist noted for his acoustic and electronic works, which have been performed mostly in Europe, Mexico, and Canada. He is also noted for the design of stage and acous ...

and Olle Niklasson, and housing telecommunications equipment. Gasklockan deteriorated further over time making it more expensive to renovate or maintain with a maintenance cost of 100,000

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it b ...

(US$10,000) each year in 2011 making demolition more attractive.

Demolition

Plans to demolish Gasklockan were formalized in 1999 when Göteborg Energi applied for demolition permission with the

county administrative board A county administrative board ( sv, länsstyrelse) is a Swedish Government Agency in each of the counties of Sweden, led by a vice-regal governor ( sv, landshövding) appointed by the government for a term of six years. The lists of gubernatorial o ...

. The process continued for 14 more years before getting the green light in April 2013. By this time two endangered

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...

s had built a nest in the abandoned building requiring an exemption to the endangered species protection regulations. The application process was started immediately after getting approval and came to an end in December 2014 when the county granted the exemption conditioned on the falcons finding a new nest. A demolition company was contracted to perform the demolition, but the process was appealed by another demolition company taking part in the negotiations. The appeal was rejected by the

administrative court An administrative court is a type of court specializing in administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are considered s ...

in October 2015, but the decision was once again appealed to the administrative court of appeal in November 2015. Göteborg Energi decided to redo the entire bidding process for the contract in March 2016. Demolition was scheduled to begin early September 2016, but was delayed just days away. The demolition was rescheduled to start in February 2017, but if any further delays occurred the demolition would not be finished before the nesting season for the birds requiring it to be delayed until September. The demolition began in early 2017 and was performed by lifting the building using 20

jackscrews A jackscrew, or screw jack, is a type of jack that is operated by turning a leadscrew. It is commonly used to lift moderately and heavy weights, such as vehicles; to raise and lower the horizontal stabilizers of aircraft; and as adjustable suppo ...

and removing the bottom most section. Using this process the building lost 2m height a day. It was finished before the March 15 deadline, but the falcons were present on the building while demolition was underway. The birds had been provided nesting boxes placed on alternative nesting sites.

References

{{Gothenburg Gas holders Buildings and structures in Gothenburg Buildings and structures demolished in 2017 Demolished buildings and structures in Sweden