The Sirocco Works (Howden Sirocco Engineering works), 81-87 Bridge End, Belfast, Co. Down, BT5 4AG

The Sirocco Works is a large engineering complex situated west of Short Strand and south of Bridge End in Belfast. The site is bounded to the west by a railway embankment and to the south by the River Lagan. The complex comprises many disparate buildings constructed mainly between the 1890s and 1981.

The site is organised into distinct zones. To the south are generally older buildings grouped around structures dating from 1910-12. To the north stands a large metal-clad, hangar-like structure erected around 1981. Between these two main groups are remnants of a pair of buildings from the 1890s. The main entrance to the site is now off Short Strand.

The large northern hangar is rectangular in plan with a gabled roof, constructed of corrugated metal cladding on a brick base. It is largely featureless except for several large doorway openings fitted with metal roller shutters.

North of the hangar, opening off Bridge End, stands the original entrance to the complex. Immediately west of this disused entrance is a two-storey gabled building in brick and stucco dating from 1900. This was greatly extended westward in 1950 by the addition of a much larger three-storey section with part gabled, part flat roofing. The entire building now serves as an administration block with drawing offices in the 1950 section. The 1900 portion was originally linked southward to a much larger building, demolished around 1980; its south gable is now mainly blank apart from a ground-floor door opening and is rendered. The east façade is also rendered and appears to retain original flat arch window openings with modern frames. The north gable, facing Bridge End, is in brick and has a slightly Mannerist appearance with several projecting brick courses and pilasters. The ground floor contains two large segmental-headed windows, with three similar smaller windows to the first floor. A large date stone appears on this gable.

The 1950 modernist extension to the west is brick-built with very long window strips to both ground and first floor on the north façade. The second floor is recessed, set well back from the north façade. This upper section, possibly post-1950, is timber-clad and largely glazed to north and south, with a shallow pitched gabled roof. South of the 1950 section is a two-storey gabled section also in brick, attached to the rear of the 1900 portion. Its south façade has a series of small windows to both floors and some door openings to the ground floor; its west gable appears blank. The west gable of the 1950 section has several informal projections, possibly stairwells, in brick.

South of the large hangar, the buildings have a complex arrangement. At the north end are two parallel gabled rows in brick, the last remnants of two very long rows dating from the 1890s. The eastern row is three-storey with many segmental-headed windows to its east and west façades, now with modern frames. The western row is slightly shorter, roughly two-and-a-half storeys, with similar window openings to its east façade. Modern gabled metal-clad sections have been added to its west façade.

South of these remnant blocks lies a sprawling conglomeration of large assembly sheds, mainly in brick and mainly gabled, much altered and added to over the years. Many have large areas of rooflighting. The earliest sections are at the very south; later portions to the north and east are largely metal-clad and plain. Of the earlier brick sections, the most prominent is at the very south. Its west-facing, slightly Mannerist gable bears "Sirocco Works" emblazoned upon it in raised metal letters in a late Art Nouveau/early Art Deco typeface. South of this building stood a slightly lower section, possibly containing an engine house, now represented only by a tall, square brick chimney.

To the west of the complex, between the buildings and the railway embankment, the ground is vacant. Until around 1980, terraced dwellings stood here and street patterns remain discernible.

East of the original Bridge End entrance stands a section of walling bearing two painted metal plaques: one commemorating employees who fell in the Great War, the other dedicated to J.S. Davidson, a former General Manager of the works, killed in action in 1916.