North Silo at Flax Mill Maltings site to be demolished
The Flax Mill Maltings site, with the North Silo on the left-hand-side of the picture
Work to demolish the 24-metre-tall North Silo on the Flax Mill Maltings site in Shrewsbury is due to start next week (week commencing Monday 12 November 2012).
The demolition is expected to take four weeks to complete and will clear this part of the site ready for possible future development as part of the Flax Mill Maltings ‘Masterplan’.
Built in the early 1960s, the North Silo is a reinforced concrete structure that was built to provide new and improved storage for the malt leaving the Maltings facility. It was located close to the adjacent railway siding to make it easier to transport the malt from the site.
The North Silo hasn’t been used since the Maltings closed in the late 1980s. There is extensive damage caused by vandalism and arson, and the structure is beyond any form of cost-effective repair.
The removal of the North Silo will also improve the skyline of the listed buildings on the Flax Mill Maltings site when viewed from the north.
The demolition work is being carried out by EMS Services Ltd who recently took down the former Arriva bus depot, Midland Red Social Club, and Rexel Senate building on the same site.
They will use a long-reach excavator to dismantle the silo from top to bottom.
Councillor Mal Price, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for economic growth and prosperity, said:
“Removal of the North Silo is another important step towards preparing the Flax Mill Maltings site for future redevelopment under the masterplan for the site. The demolition will clear that part of the site, make it easier to travel round the site, and improve access to the neighbouring buildings.”
Alan Mosley, Shropshire Councillor for Castlefields and Ditherington, and Chair of the Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings, said:
“I am delighted that this demolition is going ahead as evidence of more significant progress at the site. The previous demolition was undertaken very professionally with minimal disruption for residents. I’m confident that this will be repeated and will further enhance the area and views of the historic site.”
Andrew Paterson from English Heritage said:
“The demolition of the structurally-unsound North Silo will increase safety on the site in the short-term, and is another important step forward for the Flax Mill project, opening up the site for redevelopment in the medium- to long-term”
Listed Building Consent for the demolition of the North Silo was granted by Shropshire Council on 7 November 2012.
Further information
The North Silo is a 24-metre-high, reinforced concrete structure consisting of:
• eight silos.
• an open plan ground floor space with high-level metal framed windows.
• a steel-framed access structure, which is located between the North Silo and the Warehouse
The North Silo represents the last major investment in mechanisation and bulk storage infrastructure of the Maltings site, before the final decline in the Maltings era in the 1980s.
A lightweight roof structure, constructed of a steel frame and asbestos sheets, was removed in the early part of 2012 as it had become unsafe and unstable. This would have originally housed the machinery used to distribute the malt into the silos.
In recent months, the North Silo has been covered in green safety netting as a precaution.
