A HUGE landmark which kept thousands of Teesside folk supplied with gas for over 50 years is to be dismantled.

The gas storage unit, just off Stockton's Portrack Lane on The Black Path, was built in 1954 and could store more than three million cubic feet of gas, enough to power more than 3,000 homes for a full day.

In more recent years it has been used to bolster the network’s gas supplies during colder weather, and at peak times in the early evenings. Advances in technology mean it is no longer needed.

The four-month job of dismantling the structure will begin this month.

The gas holder has become a local landmark over the years, and Northern Gas Networks Community Artist, Mick Hand, will be working with the local community to capture and preserve their memories of the holder through art.

He said: “We understand that the gas holder is a local landmark, so documenting it through photography and art means that the history of the site will be preserved for future generations."

He asked locals to share their memories and photographs of the gas holder by emailing gasholdermemories@northerngas.co.uk or by contacting Northern Gas Networks Community through Twitter or Facebook.

The UK’s gasholders were originally built to store gas made from coal at a local gasworks. With the discovery of North Sea gas, the gas holders increasingly became redundant and were eventually phased out as new gas pipelines were laid to supply gas to homes.