Four Warehouses Trafford Park

TRAFFORD PARK, MANCHESTER. - There have lately been opened by the Manchester Ship Canal Company, four warehouses, covering some 14,000 square yards of land, which have been erected by Messrs Chas. Heathcote and Sons, architects, of Manchester and Savoy‑court, London. This site was an old river bed with a substratum of shifting sand. The foundations, having a total length of half a mile, were excavated to a depth of 20ft. below the ground‑floor level, and the substructure formed of concrete. There was heavy filling necessary to bring up the floor to the railway level. Where the four warehouses intercommunicate for traffic a fireproof corridor, with iron doors at each end, forms an efficient screen in case of fire. A hydrant installation provides an additional security. Artificial light is obtained by an installation of sixty arc lamps suspended from the purlins ; each lamp haying a separate substitutional resistance, so that should one light fail, no other is thrown out of circuit. Two lines of railway track down the interior of each warehouse permit of goods being hauled in trucks to any position. Locomotives not being allowed to enter the building, tractive force is afforded by electric capstans and fairleads. The electric overhead cranes, eight in number, have a span of 100ft. and a load of 1.25 tons, and the rapid cross‑traverse speed of 400ft. per minute. The entire works and equipment have been very rapidly executed.

Reference           Building News 16 December 1904 page 884