Planning and funding can prevent a major asset from becoming a long-term liability, writes ICE Policy Fellow David Hirst.
For more than 50 years, the UK’s gas network has delivered energy security and industrial growth across the country with remarkable reliability.
But it has also contributed heavily to the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Burning natural gas for heating alone is responsible for 14% of emissions.
As the UK moves towards green energy on its path to net zero, gas use and demand are falling.
The network’s future role is increasingly uncertain. But with long-term thinking, it offers an opportunity for reinvention.
The gas network, or National Transmission System (NTS), is dominated by high fixed costs.
Pipelines, compressor stations, safety systems, and specialist staff are still necessary, regardless of how much gas is flowing.
As volumes fall, those costs are spread across fewer customers and fewer units of gas, driving up prices and placing pressure on consumers and regulators alike.
Decades of underinvestment in maintenance and end-of-life strategy now compound the challenge.
Compressor stations illustrate the problem clearly.
These large, complex installations are essential for pushing methane gas around the country.
But they’re expensive to operate and maintain even at low use. As demand declines, they become progressively harder to justify.
Some suggest repurposing them – and indeed the whole of the NTS – for hydrogen or carbon dioxide transport.
But these options face significant technical, safety, and economic challenges.
Hydrogen can alter the behaviour of steel pipelines under stress, increasing the likelihood of different and less predictable failures. This includes risks of embrittlement, leakage, and fatigue resulting in higher compression and monitoring costs.
Carbon dioxide pipelines, meanwhile, need strict operating controls, specialised materials, and long-term liability management.
Although such conversions may be feasible for small parts of the network, they’re unlikely to provide a viable system-wide solution.
This is why long-term thinking matters: infrastructure systems do not gently wind down.
Without a clear plan, they become less efficient, more costly, and more difficult to manage over time.
This doesn’t mean that the infrastructure has no value.
It means that reuse should be grounded in practicality and circular economy principles.
Some sections of the network can be safely retired, releasing land for housing, transport, nature recovery, or commercial redevelopment.
Others – particularly pipeline corridors – could host digital infrastructure such as fibre-optic cables, making use of existing rights-of-way and minimising new land take.
In specific locations, there are limited opportunities to support district heat networks or other local energy schemes.
Professional engineers have a central role in this transition, providing expertise on safety, technical feasibility, and system-wide risk.
Energy companies offer essential operational knowledge and delivery capability.
But their commercial incentives can’t substitute for public stewardship: responsible, long-term management for the benefit of current and future generations.
The concern is clear. The UK needs a plan for the future of the onshore gas transmission network.
We’re talking about thousands of kilometres of pipeline and numerous compressor stations. But unlike offshore oil and gas operations, there are no regulations or financial provisions to safely retire or repurpose them.
This is a large and costly job that must be addressed proactively.
Without the right planning and funding, the UK risks this major national asset becoming a long-term liability.
Resilience comes from foresight. What’s missing is coordination, funding, and long-term direction.
Managed deliberately, the NTS can be a strategic asset rather than a stranded one.
By planning early, investing wisely, and combining decommissioning with redevelopment, the UK can turn the end of the gas era into an opportunity.
One of regeneration, new skills, and engineering leadership.
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