19th May 2017

Halifax Trust Award for historic restoration at Dean Clough

The impressive restoration of two nineteenth-century mills at Dean Clough in Halifax has won a coveted Halifax Civic Trust Award for its high standards of building and design. Thomasons acted as structural engineers on the £15 million project, working with architects Enjoy Design.

The Mayor of Halifax presented the award to the team, including Thomasons Principal Associate Alasdair Beal and Project Engineer Chris Ramsden (top row, left and second left respectively).

Once part of a famous carpet-making empire, A Mill and B Mill are the last historic mills to be renovated at Dean Clough, which is now a centre for business and the arts; the converted mills are used as offices for Covéa Insurance.

Empty for many years, the imposing six-storey buildings were partially derelict and required a vast amount of renovation work. Thomasons engineers deemed the existing floors inadequate for present-day loadings. The structure was strengthened by adding new steel beams concealed within the raised access floor; these were supported by new steel columns beside the existing cast iron columns.

The comprehensive transformation also involved re-roofing the buildings, installing new lifts and stairs, building a new plant extension, replacing the windows, creating a new external terrace and carrying out a total internal re-fit.

Thomasons also brought structural engineering expertise to earlier restorations of F Mill and G Mill at Dean Clough. The 40-year project to transform all the mills is now approaching completion.