Buildings near to Flax Mill Maltings start to come down

The demolition of three buildings neighbouring the historic Flax Mill Maltings in Ditherington, Shrewsbury has begun. 

Following several weeks of careful and detailed work to prepare the buildings for demolition, contractors took down the Rexel Senate building on Spring Gardens on Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 October, and the neighbouring former Midland Red Social Club came down by Friday 5 October 2012. 

Work to demolish the former Arriva bus depot is being carried out this week (week commencing Monday 8 October 2012).

The first task at the depot will be to carefully remove and relocate three stones from the front of the building that bear the words ‘Midland’.  One of these will remain at the Flax Mill Maltings site, one will be taken to the new Arriva bus depot at Battlefield, and one will be donated to the Midland Red museum. 

Work to remove the stones is expected to last up to three days.  

For each of the three buildings, demolition work involves a combination of careful dismantling of parts of the building, the knocking down of other parts, and then the crushing and clearing away of the left-over debris. 

The buildings are been demolished to allow for the future redevelopment of the land on which they stand, as part of a ‘masterplan’ to redevelop the area around the Flax Mill Maltings buildings. 

The demolition work is being carried out by EMS Services Ltd. Work is due to be completed by the end of October 2012. 

Mal Price, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for economic growth and prosperity, said:

“Demolition of the buildings will make the area more attractive by opening up the Flax Mill Maltings site.  Carrying out the work now will also save the council money in the long run, as we would have to pay rates if they remained standing. 

“When we are successful in bringing the main Flax Mill buildings back into use, we hope that the remainder of the historic buildings on site, and the surrounding land, will be more attractive to potential users and investors.” 

Alan Mosley, Chairman of the Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings, and local Shropshire Councillor for Castlefields and Ditherington, said:

“I am delighted to see that work is well underway.  It is an obvious landmark in our progress towards the Flax Mill Maltings redevelopment which will become a great attraction and will have an enormous regeneration impact on the area.” 

Chris Smith, National Planning and Conservation Director for English Heritage, said:

“The Ditherington Flax Mill Maltings partnership, of which English Heritage and Shropshire Council are members, has been working since 2005 to remove the obstacles to development of the site.  This work represents yet another important step in the de-risking of the site to make it more attractive for future reuse.”