SAVE Britain’s Heritage writes that Associated British Ports (ABP), the owners of a fine set of Victorian and Edwardian buildings on Grimsby Docks, has begun major demolition today, despite pleas from five national heritage organisations to save and re-use them.
SAVE writes:
The six 19th and early 20th century buildings, collectively called the Cosalt Buildings, make up the principal street in an small area of historic streets known as the Kasbah, stated by Historic England, the government’s national heritage advisers, to be unique in the world.
There are nine listed buildings close to the site in the Kasbah – including the magnificent 1900 Grimsby Ice Factory, the earliest remaining building of its type in Britain. The area – all owned by ABP – has suffered from neglect for many years, and the Ice Factory, which is grade II * listed, is boarded up and has gaping holes in the roof.
Henrietta Billings, Director, SAVE Britain’s Heritage said: ‘This demolition shows a callous disregard for Grimsby’s world famous fishing heritage. There are examples across the country like Liverpool Docks and Gloucester Docks that show that heritage can be a prime driver for new development and regeneration – and for the local economy. The flattening of the Cosalt Buildings is a major opportunity lost.’
Marcus Binney, Executive President, SAVE Britain’s Heritage said: ‘This is a shocking example of a wasteful and needless demolition to frustrate the pleas of bodies such as SAVE, Historic England and the World Monuments Fund that the Colsalt Buildings are an important feature of Grimsby’s historic docks. It is all the more disgraceful as Associated British Ports has allowed no opportunity for a proper public record of the interiors to be made.’
Our campaign to save the buildings is supported by World Monuments Fund, The Prince’s Regeneration Trust, The Victorian Society, The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Ancient Monuments Society, The Great Grimsby Ice Factory Trust and the Grimsby Traditional Fish Smokers Group. A petition to save the buildings gathered over 750 signatures and the campaign has been published in the national and local press.
SAVE maintains that the demolition of these lively, varied and well-detailed buildings will harm the setting and the context of the listed buildings on the other side of Fish Dock Road. This radical change is one which national policy states should be taken into account when considering planning applications.
The few remaining groups of historic buildings known as the Kasbah and the grade II* listed Ice Factory constitute a unique and irreplaceable testimony to Grimsby’s position over two centuries as the greatest fishing port in the world. Remarkably a small number of historic buildings in the Kasbah remain in constant use, notably as traditional family owned smokeries which supply leading hotels and restaurants.
