Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/07/014

Address :
Former Short Brothers HQ Airport Road Belfast Co. Antrim BT3 9DZ

Townland:
Ballymacarrett

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
22/04/2016 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
Office

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-10

IG Ref:
J3623 7534

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Three-storey 19-bay (structural) steel framed building with red-brick cladding constructed in 1941 as a two-storey structure and raised to three-storey in 1945 when a further two-storey block, linked at first floor level, was erected to the north-west. The building is located on the north side of Airport Road in the new Titanic Quarter. Flat concrete roof with modern proprietary membrane covering, brick parapet with concrete coping, metal rainwater downpipes with hoppers at lintel level of second storey, red-brick cladding in stretcher bond with projecting pilaster-style detailing to uprights covering frame, painted concrete plinth, detailing to corners of first two storeys, square-headed uPVC windows with continuous concrete cill and lintel detail. Principal elevation faces south-east. First bay (structural) to south, central five bays with further projecting entrance screen and 19th bay to west project forward of main building line. Red-brick walls with painted concrete plinth, continuous concrete cill, continuous concrete lintel with stepped and curved cornice. Corners of projecting bays have painted and lined concrete pilaster detail to second floor level with embossed detail at lintel level of first floor windows and with pilaster stepping back in two stages to brick wall. To other bays pilaster detail in brick with similar embossed detailing in painted concrete to top. Second floor level has projecting brick pilasters marking bays running between cill level and cornice to top of lintel. To ground floor level, each bay has two square-headed window opening with uPVC window. Bays to first and second floors have large single square-headed window opening with uPVC window. Central entrance bay has pedimented gable with shoulders, two-storey limestone entrance screen with 'Art Deco' style 'Giant Order' geo-metric detailing with plain pilasters, chevron panels below window openings at first floor level, moulded cornice with angular brackets above tri-partite style square-headed and shouldered door openings with blank panels and swept hoods over metal gates to openings. Pilasters to either end of screen topped with short engaged and carved columns with two stage parapet and coping. Applied lettering 'SHORT BROTHERS' with logo above to centre top of screen. Three flag poles to parapet behind pediment. South-west elevation, three-storey, one bay (structural) with detailing as before. Ground floor centre has paired uPVC entrance doors with fanlight under curved concrete canopy, steps and curved ramp with modern red-brick wall and metal handrail (all modern). Steel protected access ladder to roof level to north end. Three square-headed window openings to each floor, uPVC windows, painted concrete plinth, continuous concrete cill and lintel. Two-storey link at first floor level in fourth bay to north-west elevation. Red-brick walls to ground floor level under link and modern infill with red-brick walls and pitched roof to south-east. Link at first floor level has red-brick walls, flat roof with overhanging eaves detail, dentilled cornice and metal rainwater goods discharging through eaves. Two-storey block to north- west with flat roof with overhanging eaves detail, dentilled cornice and metal rainwater goods discharging through eaves. North -west elevation to three-storey block detailed as south-east elevation with first floor link in fourth bay to south-west. North-east elevation as south-west but without entrance canopy at ground floor level and with opening with roller shutter to first floor north. Setting: The building is located on the north side of Airport Road in the new Titanic Quarter on a level site with the main manufacturing sheds to the north-east and a car-park to the south-east. The building sits on the footpath with steel mesh boundary fence to north and south. Materials: Roof : Flat concrete RWGs: Metal Walls : Brick and concrete Windows : uPVC or ppc aluminium

Architects

Hobart & Heron

Historical Information

Short’s Administration Building, a three-storey 19-bay red-brick administration building located on the Airport Road, was built in 1941. The building was constructed as the Headquarters for the Belfast branch of Short Brothers, an aircraft manufacturing business which had been founded in the early-20th century. The Short Brothers had initially designed hot air balloons but, following the successful flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903, the pair decided to design aircraft and formed the firm of Shorts Brothers in 1908. Short Brothers initially sold the Wright biplanes (under a licence from the Wright Brothers themselves) but soon began to design their own variety of aircraft. The company underwent its greatest expansion during the First World War when it was commissioned to supply a number of aircraft to be used on the Western Front and in the Mediterranean. During the 1920s and 1930s the firm developed flying boat-type aircraft (popular at the time before the widespread development of airfields) and in 1933 moved its factory premises from Eastchurch in Kent to Rochester Airport. Barnes states that in 1936 the Air Ministry carried out a survey which deemed Belfast the ideal location for the establishment of a new aircraft factory. A new airfield had already been laid out on land in Sydenham adjacent to the Harland & Wolff shipyards and with access to a deep water dock and Belfast Lough. The Aircraft Ministry founded a new company to operate at the Belfast factory, Short & Harland. The new company was jointly owned by Short Brothers and Harland & Wolff and operated from facilities on the Airport Road. The Irish Builder noted that the company’s first factories were constructed in 1937 to designs by Hobart & Heron. An architectural partnership formed in 1904 between Henry Hobart and Samuel Heron, Hobart & Heron was initially based at Dromore Co. Down but moved to Belfast where it established offices at the Scottish Provident Buildings. The Dictionary of Irish Architects note that the firm predominantly carried out commercial and industrial work during the 1930s of which the aircraft factories at Sydenham was their largest contract. In addition to designing the factories, Hobart & Heron also designed a paint store, a boiler house, compressor house and a sub-station for Short & Harland (Irish Builder; DIA). The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) set the combined value of Short & Harland’s facilities on the Airport Road at £6,830 although this value was greatly increased as a result of the expansion of the site during the Second World War when the company underwent a wartime boom. During the early years of the war the Rochester factory was badly damaged in a Luftwaffe bombing raid resulting in increased production in the Belfast factory which, it was hoped, lay out of the range of German bombers. The relocation to Belfast necessitated the construction of additional manufacturing and administration facilities along the airport road resulting in an increase in the value of the site to £14,000 by 1941. The Administration Building was constructed in 1941 as part of this expansion and was possibly designed by Hobart and Heron, although the architect of the building is not known with certainty. The office block was originally built as a two-storey structure which did not possess the two-storey red-brick extension (located to the northwest side of the original building and linked by a connecting block). The Belfast factory was damaged during the Belfast Blitz of 1941 but the scale of the damage to the factories on the Airport Road merely resulted in a slowdown in production. Field inspection of the facility, carried out as part of the Second Survey, has found that the third storey of the Administration Building was added in 1945, along with the two-storey rear extension, in order to increase administration space. Barnes states that in the aftermath of the Second World War the Short Brothers factory at Rochester was closed and the company was merged with Short & Harland to form Short & Harland Ltd. which was registered at Belfast in 1947. With the concentration of production at the Belfast factory and the development of new facilities, the value of Short & Harland was massively increased to approximately £31,000 by the 1950s. In the decades following the Second World War, Short & Harland Ltd. was involved in pioneering research and developed increasingly advanced aircraft. By the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) the total rateable value of the factory stood at £61,600. In 1977 Short & Harland Ltd. reverted its name to Short Brothers and in 1989 the company was sold to Bombardier for £30 million. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1920-21) 2. PRONI OS/6/3/4/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1931) 3. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/29 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) 4. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/45 – Second General Revaluation of Property in northern Ireland (1956-72) 5. Ulster Town Directories (1932-1943) 6. Irish Builder (12 Jun 1937; 15 Oct 1938; 26 Nov 1938) Secondary Sources 1. Barnes, C. H., ‘Shorts Aircraft since 1900’ Putnam Aeronautical, 1990. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

V. Authorship W. Northern Ireland/International Interest U. Historic Associations R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Three-storey, 19-bay steel framed, 20th century industrial office building with red-brick cladding constructed in 1941, possibly by the architects Hobart & Heron. Constructed as the Headquarters for the Belfast branch of Short Brothers, aircraft manufacturing business, it was originally a two-storey structure and was raised to three-storey in 1945 when a further two-storey block was erected to the north-west. A good example of a twentieth century administration building with features typical of the era including, a flat concrete roof, red-brick cladding with pilaster-style detailing to building frame and windows with multiple horizontal glazing bars. The central entrance bay has a pedimented gabled two-storey limestone entrance screen with 'Art Deco' style 'Giant Order' and geo-metric detailing and the building retains original 'Art Deco' staircases internally. Despite the original metal windows being replaced and the interior having been modernised, the building retains its essential character. Located on the north side of Airport Road in the new Titanic Quarter and still in use by the aircraft manufacturing industry, it is an important part of the industrial, economic and social heritage of Belfast.

General Comments

Date of Survey

30 September 2014