THE group battling to save the Grimsby Ice Factory is appealing for financial help in its efforts to preserve the crumbling building and the unique and historically significant refrigeration equipment it contains.
Following advice and assistance from the Princes Regeneration Trust and the Architectural Heritage Fund, the Great Grimsby Ice Factory Trust (GGIFT) is seeking to raise £2,500 by the end of April to allow it to go forward to the next stage of the project.
The Grimsby Ice Factory was built in 1900 to support the Grimsby fishing industry was possibly the largest of its type in the world. Closed in 1990, it stands derelict and crumbling in Grimsby docks but, significantly, still contains much of its original refrigeration equipment including four massive, 80-year-old, four-cylinder, ammonia compressors. GGIFT is deperate to preserve this equipment in its wider plans for the development of the building into a local arts, amenities and heritage centre.
'We have been set a deadline by North East Lincolnshire Council of December 2012 to produce some positive results on the bid to regenerate the Grimsby Ice Factory,' GGIFT chair Vicky Hartung told ACR News.
The group is currently working on a brief for an options appraisal, and selecting a short list of architects who we will ask to submit a bid for the work. The completed options appraisal will be the basis for an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for first level financing of a complete feasibility study and development work.
'We are confident that the appraisal will be funded in large part by the Architectural Heritage Fund, up to a maximum of £7,500. Our trust must therefore find match funding of at least £2,500,' said Vicky Hartung.
'Because of funding schedules and the deadline set by North East Lincolnshire Council, we need to be able to raise the necessary funding as soon as possible.
'I know there are many companies and individuals within the refrigeration industry, both in the UK and overseas, who recognise the historical significance of the equipment that this building contains and I would now implore them to help us save it.'
Donations, large or small, from companies or individuals would be welcomed. A Paypal site has been set up at
grimsbyice.co.uk/donate.html or donations can be made by cheque to Great Grimsby Ice Factory Trust, 67 Bargate, Grimsby, North East Lincs, DN34 5BD.