UK: Those fighting to save the Grimsby Ice Factory claim to have a come up with a proposal which will preserve both the building and the historic refrigeration equipment it contains.
The fridge equipment, which includes four huge 1930s-built J&E Hall ammonia compressors, occupies large areas of the building and has always been a bar to development proposals in the past. The Great Grimsby Ice Factory Trust (GGIFT), the group behind local efforts to save the building, claims that its recently produced options appraisal has overcome these problems and has managed to incorporate features which will explain the ice-making process from beginning to end.

The options appraisal will be the subject of a public consultation this Friday (March 1) in the Bremerhaven Room at Grimsby Town Hall, beginning at 14.30, with a formal presentation at 19.00.

'Everyone is invited to come and view concept plans for an exciting mix of new uses for the building, to include heritage interpretation, an art gallery, climbing wall, professional print studio, events and meeting rooms, cinema, cafe, and micro-brewery, says GGIFT.

The Grimsby Ice Factory was once the largest ice factory in the world, and helped to make Grimsby the busiest fishing port in the world. It is the only known ice factory of its period still containing most of its machinery, and as such is a unique representation of the early years of refrigeration technology, on which much of our modern life relies. A Grade II* listed building, it is not only symbolic of Grimsby's great achievements in the last century, it is of unique importance to the nation.

Supported throughout by national charity, The Prince's Regeneration Trust, GGIFT worked with architects Purcell and market researchers Bell Business Development to find a sustainable way to save the building.

'Not least of the challenges facing the professional team was the machinery itself, some of which occupies large areas of the building, and has been a bar to other proposals in the past,' says GGIFT. 'But the final concept manages to preserve the building and machinery so that the ice-making process will be understandable from beginning to end. It will provide public access 365 days of the year, jobs, educational and cultural opportunities, leisure activities, and a focus for regeneration in the area. The project is estimated to be self-supporting from year one.'

'The proposal is to retain the compressor room as a heritage display for interpretation purposes,' GGIFT secretary Graeme Bassett told ACR News.

'The equipment would be restored to its original appearance. Other equipment would be retained to give an impression of the full process, although any retention and disposal would be the decision of English Heritage.

'Because of the unique internal fittings of the Ice Factory, the draft options appraisal proposes that even those areas which are turned over to other uses will retain and make use of the original structure so that it will still be possible to tour the site and see how ice was made,' he added.

'Everyone remarks on the astonishing and positive first impression the Ice Factory interior makes - even in its current derelict state. And we want to retain that sense of awe.'