Friar Gate Warehouse underground

I'll spare the more amusing story of the day (see other thread). Myself, Crashmatt and Skaterdrew went for a short but sweet explore of the warehouse underground. Crashmatt did some fire poi related stuff and I took some photos which turned out pretty good for my standards. The beauty of pressing buttons.

This place is gettin worse and worse each week i go. Whilst you lot were underground i had a walk round the ground floor and noticed at least 2 big fire that have taken place since last week.

Sooner or later the whole place is going to go up

Victorian engineering will beg to differ, structurally its iron girders with pretty thick brickwork around the outside. It'll keep burning but I don't think it'll collapse anytime soon, unless the owner accidentally knocks the walls down with a JCB because the windows have too much lead in them.

thompski said:

Victorian engineering will beg to differ, structurally its iron girders with pretty thick brickwork around the outside. It'll keep burning but I don't think it'll collapse anytime soon, unless the owner accidentally knocks the walls down with a JCB because the windows have too much lead in them.

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Yeah i've noticed how think those walls are. However if there was a large fire me and crashmatt would have no way to get to the roof any more! as we rely on quite a bit of the wooden structure.

i love the place, it gives me a weird feeling everytime i go in there,

lol @ the rubbish pile dumped down the chute.

thompski said:

Victorian engineering will beg to differ, structurally its iron girders with pretty thick brickwork around the outside. It'll keep burning but I don't think it'll collapse anytime soon, unless the owner accidentally knocks the walls down with a JCB because the windows have too much lead in them.

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Unfortunately internal steel work of that size and a serious fire, is a recipe for a partial collapse. The expansion in the heated girders will push out the brickwork. The walls may be a good thickness, in a particularly good condition they are not. This is why after serious fires, many buildings using this type of construction have to be demolished - even if from the outside the walls look relatively undamaged.

Aye, well its held out well until now I guess progress will kick the place with the demolition machines soon enough.

thompski said:

Aye, well its held out well until now I guess progress will kick the place with the demolition machines soon enough.

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Thankfully it has grade 2 listed status which has afforded it "some"protection from the demolition mob if not the the chavs and arsonists.Just wish they would do something constructive with it

great set of pics,interesting old place.

The fact is there's loads of old mills in Derby which have been restored despite suffering from extensive fire damage - Burgess Mill just up Ashbourne Road was converted into apartments two years ago and that was just as bad a condition as Friar Gate warehouse. It can be done, its just a issue of finding a developer who would take it on.

thompski said:

The fact is there's loads of old mills in Derby which have been restored despite suffering from extensive fire damage - Burgess Mill just up Ashbourne Road was converted into apartments two years ago and that was just as bad a condition as Friar Gate warehouse. It can be done, its just a issue of finding a developer who would take it on.

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As you say it can be, and is done when people have the foresight and patience to push the plans through. The trouble is the Grade 2 Listing. We must have 'preservation orders/rules, to stop the demolition profiteers. However the problems that present themselves, to a developer trying to draw up plans for viable/cost effective reuse are tremendous. The problem it than no real national guidelines exist, it is all down to each individual local authority 'listed building' department. I know the problems my late father-in-law had, when he was trying to save the old family mill buildings by converting to affordable housing. In the end he gave up and sold the mill as a going concern. Only in recent times has planning been allowed for office use. We need a far more effective preservation system, but one that does not restrict sensible conversions. Without this more and more old building will be left to rot and fall down.

thompski said:

It can be done, its just a issue of finding a developer who would take it on.

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As far as I'm aware the building is still owned by Clowes developments who wanted to turn the site into flats using the existing building and adding new buildings to the site. However council restrictions on the number of houses in the area meant a half-hearted compromise was drawn up to include retail and car parking. This was back in 2004/05 and nothing has happened since - Clowes probably wanted to do it their way or not at all. New flats have now been built by others in the area and Clowes have turned their attention to other projects (Derby's Cathedral quarter) so I wouldn't expect anything to happen soon.

Also the structure of this building would make it hard to convert. Two floors at one end and 3 smaller floors at the other make it difficult to divide into apartments.