India of Inchinnan
Encyclopedia
Inchinnan
Inchinnan is a small village in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The village is located on the main A8 road between Renfrew and Greenock, just southeast of the town of Erskine.-History:...
, Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfrewshire, the others being Inverclyde to the west and East Renfrewshire to the east...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, that was formerly used for various industrial uses. It includes the former office block of India Tyres of Inchinnan - a Category A listed building in the art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style, designed in 1930 by Thomas Wallis of Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Wallis, Gilbert and Partners was a British architectural partnership responsible for the design of many Art Deco buildings in the UK in the 1920s and 1930s. It was established by Thomas Wallis in 1914. Although the identity of Gilbert has not been established, later partners included Douglas...
. The office block was similar in style to Wallis, Gilbert and Partners' Hoover Building
Hoover Building
The Hoover Building on the Western Avenue in Perivale, West London is an example of Art Deco architecture, designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners...
in Perivale
Perivale
Perivale is a small suburb in the London Borough of Ealing, west of Charing Cross, central London. Landmarks in the suburb include the A40, a large road that connects Central London with the M40 motorway, and the large Art Deco Hoover Building, as well as St Mary's Church , the River Brent and...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. There is also a Rolls Royce factory.
Airship construction
The site was first used industrially by William Beardmore and CompanyWilliam Beardmore and Company
William Beardmore and Company was a Scottish engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active between about 1890 and 1930 and at its peak employed about 40,000 people...
, who obtained a contract from the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
to build airships in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Airship components were built at William Beardmore's Dalmuir
Dalmuir
Dalmuir is an area on the western side of Clydebank, in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.-Location:It is neighboured by the village of Old Kilpatrick, the Mountblow and Parkhall areas of Clydebank, as well as the town centre...
, Clydebank
Clydebank
Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...
, factory but more land was needed. William Beardmore therefore obtained land at Inchinnan
Inchinnan
Inchinnan is a small village in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The village is located on the main A8 road between Renfrew and Greenock, just southeast of the town of Erskine.-History:...
and built the Inchinnan Airship Constructional Station. Building work started in January 1916 to construct the Station, which occupied 413 acres (1.7 km²). Due to the difficulties of getting staff to this isolated location, the company built 52 houses in Inchinnan, at Beardmore Cottages.
A large airship hangar
Airship hangar
Airships are sheltered in airship hangars during construction and sometimes also for regular operation, particularly at bad weather conditions. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a serious risk.- History :...
, the Airship Shed, was built by Sir William Arrol & Co.
Sir William Arrol & Co.
Sir William Arrol & Co. was a leading Scottish civil engineering business founded by William Arrol and based in Glasgow. It built some of the most famous bridges in the United Kingdom including the Forth Bridge and Tower Bridge in London.-Early history:...
At 720 feet (219.5 m) long by 230 feet (70.1 m) wide and 122 feet (37.2 m) high, it was of comparable size to the Cardington
Cardington, Bedfordshire
Cardington is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, EnglandPart of the ancient hundred of Wixamtree, the settlement is best known in connection with the Cardington airship works founded by Short Brothers during World War I, which later became an RAF training station...
and Howden
Howden
Howden is a small market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies north of the M62, on the A614 road about north of Goole and south-west of York. William the Conqueror gave the town to the Bishops of Durham in 1080...
Airship sheds, which were contemporary. It was designed to accommodate two Class 23 airships side by side; of the class only R24 was built by Beardmore.
A hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
production plant, a bottled hydrogen storage area, and various production shops were also built.
William Beardmore successfully built several airships, Airship No. R24, R27, R34 and the R36.
The Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
contract was cancelled in August 1919 and no more orders were received. The station closed on 12 October 1922, and the Airship shed and other many other buildings were demolished for scrap.
India Tyres
The major part of the site and some of the buildings, including a large hangar, were purchased by India Tyres in December 1927. The company set about redeveloping it.Based on a plan of the Airship construction station, the existing hangar appears to have comprised three adjacent shops: the Frame Shop, the Girder Shop and the Car shop. It was reused as a rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
mill building, where the rubber was compounded and the tyres
Tire
A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...
were manufactured, and a linked raw materials store.
Other separate buildings were erected for storage of carbon black
Carbon black
Carbon black is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of heavy petroleum products such as FCC tar, coal tar, ethylene cracking tar, and a small amount from vegetable oil. Carbon black is a form of amorphous carbon that has a high surface-area-to-volume ratio, although its...
and finished products. The carbon black storage silo
Storage silo
A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store grain or fermented feed known as silage. Silos are more commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use...
was separate; by the 1970s it appears to occupy part of the former hydrogen generation plant / bottled gas storage area.
India Tyres commissioned their Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
office block in 1930, strategically located in front of their mill building west of Glasgow on Greenock Road, the A8 road from Edinburgh to Greenock. It is similar in style to Wallis, Gilbert and Partners' Hoover Building
Hoover Building
The Hoover Building on the Western Avenue in Perivale, West London is an example of Art Deco architecture, designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners...
in Perivale
Perivale
Perivale is a small suburb in the London Borough of Ealing, west of Charing Cross, central London. Landmarks in the suburb include the A40, a large road that connects Central London with the M40 motorway, and the large Art Deco Hoover Building, as well as St Mary's Church , the River Brent and...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Construction work was completed, and the building opened in 1931. India Tyres also built two groups of houses to accommodate its workers: "Allands Avenue" and "India Drive". The office block remained in use for its original purpose for some 50 years.
Renovation
Brownfield land
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations. Cf. Waste...
site by Renfrew District Council's
Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfrewshire, the others being Inverclyde to the west and East Renfrewshire to the east...
Renfrew Development Agency (RDA), later Renfrew Enterprise, failed to progress.
The India of Inchinnan office block was saved from its dereliction when it was bought, renovated and extended by the software company Graham Technology, now Sword Ciboodle, whose headquarters were located in the category A listed building. The renovation was completed in 2003. The design by Gordan Gibb of Gibb Architects keeps the original India Tyres office building but adds a contemporary extension inspired by the airships formerly built there. The roof of the extension is a 1:1 scale replica of a section of the R34 and internal lighting spells out "R34" in morse code. The design won 'Best Re-Use of an Historic Building' at the Scottish Design Awards as well as a commendation in the 'Commercial Interior' Category. As of May 2005, this is the only category A listed building in Scotland in Commercial use
Current Use
The building is now owned by Sword Group (after their acquisition of Graham Technology Plc) and is used as the Sword Ciboodle head office. The building is also the head office of the Amor Group, Scotland’s largest independent business technology solutions company. GetronicsGetronics
Getronics N.V. is a company, subsidiary of the Dutch IT & Telecommunications firm KPN since October 2007, focused on creating value for IT Workspace Management Services, Applications & Software Development Services...
occupy much of the office section of the ground floor. The R34 Restaurant, also on the ground floor, is open to the public as well as facilitating conferences and events throughout the rest of the building .
Other parts of the site are used by Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...
, who opened a new £85 million factory in October 2004.
External links
India of Inchinnan websiteHistory of India of Inchinnan - Clyde Waterfront Heritage
India of Inchinnan - Renfrewshire Community Website
Gibb Architects