Building Name

British Westinghouse Engineering Works Trafford Park Manchester

Date
1899 - 1902
District/Town
Trafford Park, Manchester
County/Country
GMCA, England
Client
British Westinghouse Electric Company
Work
New Build

In 1899 the British Westinghouse Electric Company was floated as a British subsidiary of the American firm of George Westinghouse. The new company purchased 130 acres or 11% of the Trafford Park Estate on land previously leased to the short-lived Trafford Brick Company (1897-1900). Unlike many English engineering works which had modest beginnings and had grown by virtue of later extensions, British Westinghouse was conceived on a colossal scale, based from the outset on experience gained in the United States.  At the time it was the largest engineering works in the United Kingdom, built and equipped on the American pattern at a cost of 1.7 million.

George Westinghouse (1846-1914) initially called in the designer of his Pittsburgh works. A Manchester contractor was appointed to lay the foundations and a London builder to erect the steelwork but both believed that it would take five years to bring the plant into production. Westinghouse thus approached James C. Stewart, a Canadian-born contractor with a record of high speed construction in the United States, who estimated the construction period could be reduced to fifteen months. In January 1901, Stewart sailed for Manchester with a team of assistants. On arrival he drastically increased the workforce from less than 250 to 4,000. Tracks were laid to all parts of the site to improve distribution of materials and the riveters were equipped with automatic tools, thereby increasing their productivity by fourfold. Steam hoisted replaced human hod carriers and the bricklayers were trained to lay 1,500 - 2,000 bricks per day instead of their customary 400-500. Within ten months eight of the ten buildings were in use.

The huge sheds designed to cover the main manufacturing processes each had a steel structure incorporating travelling cranes. The external walls were infilled with brickwork and timber framed windows with no attempt at architectural ornamentation. The largest was the machine shop, 900 feet by 440 feet which was divided into five bays, the outside and central bays having galleries to make a first floor. The two main aisles had a span of 90 feet and a height of 80 feet to the roof to provide sufficient space for the manufacture of the largest equipment such as generators, gas engines and tramcars. Smaller, parallel sheds contained the iron foundry, the brass and malleable iron foundry, the forge and steel foundry, pattern shops and stores. In 1902 it was observed that:  "The whole works are arranged in the most logical method of progression, for the raw materials from their arrival are passed gradually forward from process to process until they leave the machine shop in their finished state".  The site also contained a water tower, 210 feet high, to provide the necessary pressure for the hydraulic lifts and sprinkler system. The tower was crowned with a copper-covered dome surmounted by a hand grasping forked lightening and, like a smaller version of Blackpool Tower, it stood as a local landmark. There can be little doubt that the conception, design and execution of the scheme was primarily American. Even the six storey office block with its ornamental gables which fronted the works to Westinghouse Road were virtually identical to the company's offices at Pittsburg. The extent of Heathcote's involvement is therefore debatable and his role was probably limited to the production of working drawings and his acting as site architect. However, the appointment undoubtedly gave him sufficient experience of American construction techniques to lead to his later involvement with the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham.

British Westinghouse began manufacture of steam turbines and turbo-generators in 1902. The company had anticipated the electrification of the British railway system on the American pattern but this did not occur and the expected orders never fully materialised. The Company was reorganised in 1919 as Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd.

MANCHESTER - On Saturday the Lord Mayor of London laid the corner-stone of the Westinghouse Works at Trafford Park, Manchester. The works proper are located in six buildings, each one being of  proportionate size and adapted for one particular branch of manufacture. They are all of rectangular form, and arranged side by side in the order most convenient for securing straight-forward work in the manufacture of the machinery from the raw materials to the highly finished product. Taking the buildings in order, on the extreme east is the iron foundry, 170 feet wide by 580 feet long, where plant will be installed capable of turning out and handling the huge castings required in the largest sizes of electric power machinery. Next to the iron foundry is the smaller brass foundry, malleable iron foundry, pattern shop, steel  foundry and forge. The two last are built end to end, forming a building 170 feet wide by 580 feet long. The next building is the machine shop. It is 430 feet wide by 900 feet long, and will be equipped with the most modern machine tools, large and small, all electrically operated. In addition to the six buildings which have been mentioned, there are two other: one the office building, 50 feet wide by 250 feet long, set in front of the machine shop, and the other, box factory and stores, 60 feet wide by 270 feet long. The offices will accommodate the clerical staff, shipping department, drawing offices, and also have certain fire proof departments in which the works records will be kept. Housing for the workmen are being built by the Trafford Park Dwellings Company Limited, who have acquired 120 acres of land, whereon will be erected some 1,100 dwellings. About 300 of these are completed, and 300 more are being rapidly pushed forward. The engineer and architects are Mr Thomas Rodd, of Pittsburg, USA, and Mr Charles Heathcote, architect, Manchester. Mr Charles Heathcote is also architect for the dwellings referred to. [Building News 9 August 1901 Page 174].

WESTINGHOUSE WORKS, TRAFFORD PARK, MANCHESTER - The Lord Mayor of London recently laid the corner-stone of the Westinghouse Works at Trafford Park, Manchester. The works are situated on a portion of the old Trafford Park estate, a site covering about 130 acres having been acquired for the purpose. The buildings run almost due north and south; the northern ends are permanent and brought up into line; the other ends might be termed temporary, as it is from here that the buildings will be extended and increased in length as required. The works proper are located in six buildings, all of rectangular form. On the extreme east is the iron foundry, 170 ft. wide and 580 ft. long, where plant will be installed capable of turning out and handling the huge castings required in the largest sizes of electric power machinery. Next to the iron foundry are the smaller brass foundry, malleable iron foundry, pattern shop, steel foundry, and forge. The two last are built end to end, forming a building 170 ft. wide by 580 ft. long. The next building is the machine shop. It is 430 ft, wide by 900 ft. long, and will be equipped with the most modern machine tools, large and small, all electrically operated. It is divided longitudinally into bays. The side bays are arranged with two stories, and are arranged for the machining and finishing of the smaller parts of machinery; the centre bay is arranged for the machining of large parts and the erection of the largest plant manufactured. In addition to the six buildings which have been mentioned, there are two others—one the office building, 50 ft. wide by 250 ft. long, set in front of the machine shop; and the other, box factory and stores, 60 ft. wide by 270 ft. long. The office building will accommodate the clerical staff, ship- ping department, drawing offices, and also have certain fireproof departments in which the works records will be kept. Houses for the workmen are being built by the Trafford Park Dwellings Company, Limited, who have acquired some 120 acres of land, whereon will be erected some 1,100 dwellings. About 300 of these are completed, and 300 more are being rapidly pushed forward. Arrangements are also being made for the erection of some better-class cottages for the use of foremen, for the erection of a large hotel to accommodate commercial travellers, also schools, clubs, and recreation grounds. In all there will be some 5,000 workmen employed, the works being mainly devoted to the manufacture of gas engines, dynamos, motors, converters, transformers, etc. The engineer and architects are Mr. Thomas Rodd, of Pittsburg, U.S.A., and Mr. Charles Heathcote, architect, Manchester. Mr. Charles Heathcote is also architect for the dwellings referred to. [Builder 10 August 1901 Page 141]

TRAFFORD PARK.‑ Extensive new works have just been completed for the British Westinghouse Electric Company at Trafford Park, Manchester. There are, says a Times correspondent, 1,390,060sq.ft. of floor‑space under the roofs of the various buildings, or about the area of a 32‑acre field. Moreover. the buildings are all on the ground floor with the exception of certain galleries and of the large office building which forms a frontage to the principal entrance., It is six stories high, and 250ft. long by 50ft. deep; the total floor space being 75,000sq:ft.‑ that is, not far short of an acre and three‑quarters of offices. The rooms are fitted with mosaic floors and hardwood panelling. The main machine‑ shop consists of five bays, with three galleries each 82ft. wide. The length of this building is 11,000 feet. and the width 427ft. The five bays are all to be fitted with electric travelling cranes, each of 50 tons lifting capacity. The floor is of asphalte bricks, in order to render it fireproof, it having been found that wooden floors, especially when saturated with oil, do much to spread a conflagration. There is, as a further precaution, a sprinkler system which comes into play automatically in case of fire. There are in the roof about 300,000sq.ft. of glass of extra thickness in the skylights. All this has wire netting cast into the glass panes during the process of manufacture. The cost of this wired glass is stated to have been 7d. per square foot. The floors of the galleries are built without joists being composed of  solid rows of boards 2 inches thick and 10 inches. deep, placed edgewise and touching each other so that they can be spiked together. On this solid foundation a light flooring is laid. The steel girders supporting the floors are 3ft. deep and 16in. apart. There is a 12in. concrete foundation over the whole area of the machine‑shop, on top of which are laid, the asphalts bricks already mentioned. In this building alone there are  9 000 tons of steel; the line shafting for driving machine tools will be over three miles in length  and the quantity of timber, including the sheeting of the roof is 6,000, 000 cubic feet. Lines of standard gauge run into each bay, so, that railway waggons can be brought into the shops to be discharged. The temperature will be maintained  at 60E Fahr., whatever the weather may be outside The other principal buildings consist of a steel foundry, in which there will be two 18‑ton open‑hearth basic furnaces, an iron foundry, a brass and malleable iron foundry, a pattern shop, a drying and dipping shop, a box factory, and the boiler rooms and pumping station. The steam power plant is calculated to be sufficiently powerful for two years, at the end of which time it is anticipated an extension will be needed. The tunnels which connect the various buildings carrying pipes and electric wires are constructed of brick, 8 feet high by 6 feet wide There is a mile of these tunnels in all. There will be a water‑tower on the south side of the works to supply the automatic fire‑extinguishers and for other purposes..It will be 250 feet high and on the top there will be a number of powerful electric lights which will illuminate the district and form a conspicuous object at night. The works have been constructed under the direct supervision of Mr. J. C. Stewart, the building manager of the company. British labour has been employed entirely, there being only ten or a dozen Americans on the works. The time‑sheets,  taken at random and without selection, show  sometimes as much as 1,400 bricks laid per day  by one man. [Building News 28 February 1902 Page 303 Article quoting from The Times Architect (Heathcote) is not named]

Charles Heathcote later spoke of the construction methods:  At the Westinghouse Works, Manchester, where I was associated as architect with Mr. Rodd, one of the first engineers of America, it has been said that on a part of the work 1,600 bricks were laid per man per day. It is quite correct. We have had this number laid in a two‑brick wall at a very different kind of a building to a big works - Parr's Bank, Manchester to wit - with ordinary bond set by trowel in mortar made with Wormsworth Cliff lime. This was without paying extra wages either. But 1,600 bricks was not the average, and I know of no building where such has been the average. But you may learn something from the Westinghouse Works, although the conditions were not those of an ordinary building let under one contract to one builder. No contractor was ever asked to undertake the whole contract. All heavy work was let per ton, per cube foot, per square yard. The excavating was let to one firm, the steel to another, the slating to another, and so onCall English firms. On one side of the site were brick kilns, and whilst the excavations were in progress some 4,000,000 bricks were made and stored, the site was levelled, about e eight miles of railway track laid down, connecting all parts of the works together, and proceeding from a main track from the Ship Canal Docks and the principal railway systems, timber was stored adjoining the rails, the large machine‑shop foundations were in, the steel work well commencedCin fact, there was a quarter of a million pounds worth of work done or material delivered on the site before an American contractor came to employ bricklayers, carpenters, etc. He did not come as a contractor with a contract price for doing certain work, but as an official of the company. Therefore there is no comparison of this work with that of a general contract. But he got the work pushed on rapidly, and by saving time, saved the company interest on their money, aud being empowered by an enlightened board to employ as many men as could be utilised, he accomplished the speedy work. And please note that the architects had every drawing ready. There was no delay of five minutes for instructions. There was nothing to wait for, and extra wages were given to men, enabling the best to be picked out and retained on the job. [Building News 4 December 1903 page 753]

Reference    Manchester Courier Monday 5 August 1901 Page 8 Col 3 – No details of building
Reference    Building News 9 August 1901 Page 174
Reference    Builder 10 August 1901 Page 141
Reference    British Architect 14 March 1902 Page 195-196
Reference    Building News 28 February 1902 Page 303
Reference    Building News 4 December 1903 page 753
Reference    John Dummelow 1899-1948. Metropolitan Vickers Ltd. Manchester 1949. Pages 4/7
Reference    The Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society. Vol. XVIII. Page 178 ; Notes on a Visit to the British Westinghouse Works.
Reference    The Trafford Park Works of the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company Ltd. A reprint of nine articles which originally appeared in the Engineering Magazine.