Factory, Ballinacraig Way, Greenbank Industrial Estate, Newry, Co Down

Factory at Ballinacraig Way, Greenbank Industrial Estate, Newry

A low brick factory complex exemplifying early industrial estate architecture in the International style, representing the beginning of post-war industrial expansion in Northern Ireland. The building is believed to have been constructed in 1948, possibly by Ulster Textiles.

The complex comprises a symmetrical arrangement of brick buildings with a two-storey office and canteen block at the centre, flanked on each side by a one-storey factory entrance block, beyond which sit slightly higher one-storey loading bay blocks. Behind these façade buildings lies the one-storey factory proper, with a red brick chimney positioned at its rear right. The security kiosk, perimeter railings, walls and gates form an integral part of the overall composition.

The façade buildings have flat reinforced-concrete roofs with concrete-coped parapets. The walls are of framed construction with brick and precast concrete facings. The principal elevation of the central block faces the main road and projects forward from the general line of the façade. It features a pair of glazed timber doors in a central recessed bay with a small leaded segmental canopy above, topped by a shallow canted oriel window. These doors are flanked by four metal-framed windows on each side, one set to each floor, with the first-floor windows taller than those at ground level. Between ground and first-floor windows are concrete panels with square pattern relief. At the ends of the middle block are stairwells, each with a tall window featuring projecting concrete dressings and a ribbed concrete motif at the head. Across the entire front of this block runs a projecting continuous concrete beam supported by streamlined concrete piers rising between each window bay and at the ends. The left and right cheeks of the central block are abutted at ground floor by factory entrance blocks. Towards the rear of each cheek at first-floor level is a large metal-framed window. In the centre of the back wall is a pair of metal-framed French windows providing access to a narrow yard separating this block from the factory proper, with metal-framed windows in concrete trim above.

Each flanking block contains, at its middle, two pairs of recessed timber doors set in a glass brick surround with a flat concrete canopy to the front supported by two metal columns on concrete plinths, concrete steps and planters in front. On either side of the doors is a projecting horizontal concrete-trimmed opening containing four large metal-framed windows. Each end block contains two loading doors and three windows. The brick walls sit on a concrete base course, each with a concrete beam projecting across the front supported in the same manner as the middle block. One of the door openings in the right-hand block has been infilled. Projecting from the right side of the right-hand block is a flat-roofed link to what is believed to be an electricity sub-station—a simple brick building with a door and two large metal windows.

The factory proper sits behind the façade buildings and has a glazed roof of north-light profile. Within the factory block at rear right is a squat red brick square-plan chimney with decorative brick pilasters to the façade and rear, trimmed with a concrete band near the top and capped with concrete. The octagonal-plan security kiosk sits to the right of the right loading bay, with a flat roof extending to form a canopy supported by a single tubular steel column, fitted with metal-framed windows and doors.

Lawns occupy the front of the office and factory entrance blocks. The complex is bounded by a low brick wall with concrete coping and brick piers, on which is mounted a metal fence of square grid pattern with Art Deco framing and posts. Metal gates feature similar detailing.