Millennium Mills Heritage Assessment for The Silvertown Partnership March 2015 Donald Insall Associates Millennium Mills 1 Donald Insall Associates Millennium Mills 2 Millennium Mills Heritage Assessment For The Silvertown Partnership Ordnance Survey map with the site marked in red. [Reproduced under Licence 100020449] Dated Site Plan of Millennium Mills This report and all intellectual property rights in it and arising from it are the property of or are under licence to Donald Insall Associates. Neither the whole nor any part of this report, nor any drawing, plan, other document or any information contained within it may be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent of Donald Insall Associates. 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Checked by HXP/ JCF Donald Insall Associates Millennium Mills 3 Donald Insall Associates Millennium Mills 4 Contents Historic Building Analysis & Advice 1.1 Introduction 6 1.2 The Buildings and their Current Legislative Status 6 1.3 Assessment of Signifi cance 7 1.4 Summary of Proposals 9 Historical Background 2.1 London’s Enclosed Docks 10 2.2 Royal Victoria Dock 10 2.3 The Corn Laws, Imports and British Flour Milling 12 2.4 Millennium and Rank’s Mills, London 13 2.5 Architects and Engineers 23 2.6 Sources 24 Site Survey Descriptions 3.1 Setting 38 3.2 The Buildings Externally 38 3.3 The Buildings Internally 40 Commentary on the Proposals 4.1 Description of the Proposals and their Impact on the Non- Designated Heritage Assets 48 4.2 Commentary on the Proposals 49 Appendices Appendix I - Planning Policy and Guidance Appendix II - List of Plates and Endnotes Contacts Victoria Perry (Senior Historic Buildings Advisor) E: [email protected] T: 020 7245 9888 Vicky Webster (Historic Buildings Advisor) E: [email protected] T: 020 7245 9888 London Offi ce 12 Devonshire Street London, W1G 7AB www.insall-architects.co.uk Donald Insall Associates Millennium Mills 5 Historic Building 1.1 Introduction Analysis & Advice This heritage assessment forms part of an application for planning permission submitted for the initial of phase the redevelopment of the Millennium Mills complex, Royal Victoria Docks, London. The complex is located within the boundary of the Silvertown Quays Masterplan which is currently the subject of an outline planning application (Ref: 14/01605/OUT). This application is submitted on behalf of The Silvertown Partnership, selected as the development partner together with the Greater London Authority, to bring forward the redevelopment of the wider site. Donald Insall Associates was originally commissioned in March 2014 by The Silvertown Partnership to assist them in the preparation of proposals and an illustrated history of the site and building, with sources of reference and bibliography, is in Section 2 while site survey fi ndings are in Section 3. The investigation established the historical and architectural signifi cance of the buildings, which is set out below, while Section 4 provides a commentary on the proposed partial demolition. 1.2 The Buildings and their Current Legislative Status The complex consists of four linked industrial structures dating from c1905, 1933, 1953 and 1954. The buildings are located on the southern edge of the Royal Victoria Dock, to the west of the Pontoon Dock. The buildings are not statutorily listed or located in a conservation area but have been identifi ed together as a complex as ‘locally-listed’ by Newham Council. This means, in heritage planning terms, that the complex is considered a ‘non-designated heritage asset’. For ease of description the main part of the complex has been labelled as Blocks A, B, C - which together form one contiguous building (see page 3 for the site plan), the fourth structure, known as Rank’s Mills is not part of the scheme currently being developed. Plate 1. Mills Complex, 2013. DIA Donald Insall Associates Millennium Mills 6 The southern section of Block A contains remnants of the earliest parts of the building dating from 1905 and 1933 and retains its decorative Dutch gable to the south elevation, while the northern section is a later infi ll from 1954. Block B, which faces onto the waterfront, was constructed in 1953 and has a concrete frame with brick infi ll: its facades were designed in a stripped-classical style. Adjoining this to the east is Block C, which comprises reinforced concrete grain silos. The conservation of non-designated heritage assets, such as locally-listed buildings, is an objective of the National Planning Policy Framework and a ‘material consideration’ when determining the outcome of a planning application; the effects of alterations on that asset’s signifi cance should, therefore, be ‘taken into account’. Policy also states, however, that a ‘balanced judgement will be required having regard to the scale of any harm or loss and the signifi cance of the heritage asset’ 1 (copies of the relevant planning policy documents are included in Appendix I). 1.3 Assessment of Signifi cance Millennium Mills and the neighbouring Rank’s Mill are the only survivors of a number of large-scale grain mills that were constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the site of the Royal Victoria Dock’s former graving (ship-repair) dock (Plate 1). Established at the turn of the 20th century, these highly-mechanised roller-mills were designed to process Canadian and North American grain and produce the white, refi ned fl our favoured by British consumers at a price that undercut traditional millers. Only parts of these mill buildings, including the Rank’s mill of c1905, still remain, however, as they were severely damaged by an explosion and fi re originating in a nearby munitions factory in 1917 (Plate 2). The 1905 Rank’s Premier Mill may be tentatively attributed to Gelder and Kitchen of Hull, who were prominent mill architects and engineers of their day. The Millennium Mills part of the complex was partially rebuilt and extended in 1933 and in the 1950s by engineers L.G. Mouchel Ltd, a fi rm that, with the French engineer François Hennebique, built an early Plate 2. Millennium Mills in 1917. PLA Archives Donald Insall Associates Millennium Mills 7 reinforced concrete fl our mill for Weaver & Co in Swansea in 1898. Given the relatively late date of the structures and the decidedly old- fashioned style of the architecture they exhibit, with the interwar buildings resembling those of a previous era, and the 1950s phases in a 1930s Art Deco style, the architectural history of the mill buildings, is not its primary signifi cance. Indeed, while connected with architects and engineers who pioneered new buildings and technologies, there are no signifi cant ‘fi rsts’ associated with Millennium or Rank’s Mills. Instead, the signifi cance of the surviving mill buildings rests principally in their powerful physical presence on the dockside with the monumental qualities of the mill complex, contributing greatly to ‘local character’ and ‘sense of place’. Moreover, the mill buildings are among the very few surviving buildings that suggest the epic, global scale of the industry once undertaken at the Royal Victoria Dock and the importance of the docklands to London’s infrastructure (Plate 3). Additional signifi cance may be attributed to the Rank Mill’s connection with Joseph Rank, who in the First World War, disillusioned with the offi cial Wheat Control Board, made his own arrangements to feed Londoners and who later worked as a secret wheat buyer for the government to build up stocks prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Millennium Mills was one of the largest automated (fl our) mill complexes ever to be built in London and housed a forest of machinery, shoots, ducts and pipes. Unusually for an abandoned industrial complex, some of this equipment - dating largely from the 1950s - still remains (Plates 4 and 5). The, now defunct, machinery was installed by Henry Simon Ltd of Manchester, one of the pioneers of the roller milling process, and adds to the building’s signifi cance as an urban industrial monument. Plate 3. The Royal Victoria Dock Flour Milling Complexes, 1960s. PLA Archives Donald Insall Associates Millennium Mills 8 1.4 Summary of Proposals These current proposals are submitted for planning permission to allow the initial site phase of a scheme that is currently being developed in detail by AHMM architects. This scheme, which aims to convert the abandoned complex into an ‘incubator’ offi ce-block for small businesses with a restaurant/café on the top fl oor and a sheltered ‘market’ area on the ground fl oor; will be the subject of a forthcoming application; the current proposals are for preparatory works only. A more detailed outline of the proposals together with a commentary is included in section 4 of this report but in summary, they are as follows: As noted previously, the southern section of Block A contains remnants from 1906 and 1933 and retains its decorative Dutch gable to the south elevation, while the northern section is a later infi ll from 1954 and (at high level only) 1971. The proposals would retain the southern section of Block A and remove the internal concrete silos. Block B, which faces onto the dockfront, would be retained, and the internal silos removed. At the Plate 5. Machinery in Millennium Mills. DIA top fl oor level the current roof-top extensions would be removed and the walled pediment and signage would be reconfi gured.