Phoenix mills, a five-storey stone mill in Huddersfield, was originally the home of spinner and weaver T and H Blamires for nearly a century until the business ended in 1961 Following fires and demolition Phoenix Mills is now mainly single storey and became the home of the Westin Group - a manufacturer of specialist cooker extraction hoods. In 1994, local businessman and entrepreneur, John Eastwood acquired the Westin Group along with its Phoenix Mills premises.
In 2014 the adjoining Grove Works on St Andrew’s Road was purchased from yarn spinner Z Hinchliffe to enable the business to expand and diversify. Grove Works had been extensively rebuilt with the incorporation of a concrete frame following a major fire which destroyed half of the building in 1948.
Ivan Moorhouse, Project Manager has overseen the transformation of the building over the last decade. The original plan was to demolish the single-storey outbuildings on St Andrew’s Road and replace them with workshops for Westin Drives. The award-winning project has since involved new window installations, an extensive programme of insulation, new service and lifts installations, creation of bespoke office accommodation and design and test areas while dealing with unexpected issues such as the discovery of a large underground reservoir tank. A training and meeting room, with space for staff socialising, has been created on the top floor of the building.
The project is a superb example of how mills can be successfully refurbished to provide accommodation and facilities meeting the needs of modern manufacturing businesses.
