Former Nylon Spinners Factory

The plan and layout of the building were designed strictly around the original production process, and with the clear separation of production from office and welfare accommodation. Undivided factory floors for spinning are linked to the original welfare and administration block by corridors that cross a series of internal gardens. The structure of the building is also clearly expressed internally, with a frame of riveted girders and welded steel columns, concrete floors and ceilings.

The building is largely designed around the necessities of production, according to modern flow principals. Thus, its dominant architectural feature - the tower at the east of the complex - represents the early stages of production in the transformation of the raw nylon polymer, behind which lay the large unimpeded spinning areas, with packing rooms at the far end (demolished). The large scale of the operation, and the aspirations towards a modern well-run and efficient factory lent emphasis also to welfare and social provision: the south range housed dining rooms, kitchens and cloakrooms as well as workshops and stores on the ground floor, with a block of administrative offices at first floor. These areas were separated from the main production floors by a series of internal courtyards with formal gardens. All elements of production are clearly expressed in the architectural composition. It uses a modernist idiom in planning as well as in detail: the site is planned around a solid geometry of linked cuboid blocks, their varying heights and volumes dictated by the functions which they were intended to house. Detail also uses a minimalist geometry of planes: grids of window serve to emphasise the underlying framed construction, and their differential placing, spacing and size again reflects the different functions of the different parts. There has been some alteration associated with the creation of new entrances etc., but the original arrangement remains substantially intact.

The building is steel-framed reinforced concrete with distinctive rustic brick facings. Windows are steel casements; dressings are artificial Portland stone. The building faces east: this elevation is dominated by the massive central tower; the balanced asymmetry of the range reflecting the different functions of its clearly articulated parts. The tower is functional, and advanced from its base is the loading bay for the raw material - the original works entrance is further south. The tower is articulated by a series of fins dividing areas of glazed brick, with a boldly projecting cornice over. Together these features make reference to the portico of a classical building, an appropriate symbol for the entry point of the raw material. To the left of the tower, the former laboratory and welfare block has high-set grids of steel casements, narrowly framed with artificial stone sills and cornices. This banded fenestration continues in the long south elevation, though the higher western extension of it has a continuous grid of windows immediately below the eaves cornice. To the right of the tower, plant rooms are expressed as blocks of varying heights, still with bands of window (various modern plant on the roof only superficially disturb the original geometry of composition). The long north range has similar windows, framed with 'ashlar' pilasters. The main production floors are set back from both south and north elevations, and rise higher, but are otherwise given similar treatment.