Ferranti, 1-3 Crewe Road North And Ferry Road, Crewe Toll, Edinburgh

Ferranti, 1-3 Crewe Road North And Ferry Road, Crewe Toll, Edinburgh

A 3-storey L-plan laboratory block completed in 1954 by architect Douglas H Bamber, with later rooftop additions. The building exemplifies the International Modern style of the "New Look" era, featuring brick construction with a visible reinforced concrete framework to the principal elevations and concrete dressings. Pre-rendered facing blocks clad the corners. Concrete architraves frame the smaller windows, while larger windows have concrete lintels and sills. The building is topped with flat roofs finished with concrete wallhead coping.

A distinctive 5-stage tower rises at the corner angle, partly protruding from the re-entrant angle between the two wings. The tower is blind on its eastern side and partly set back into the harled section. Its central glazed stairwell window is divided vertically by 6 concrete mullions beneath a concrete architrave, and is surmounted by a later metal dome addition.

The entrance front (south elevation) features a single-storey flat-roofed porch to the far right, accessed by concrete steps leading to 2-leaf glass doors in a glazed surround. Brick flanking walls project forward along the steps to form an outer porch, with re-entrant angles to either side infilled with brick planters. The base of the tower is studded with protruding headers of contrasting colour. The main wing to the left contains 13 bays with horizontally banded windows divided vertically by projecting concrete strips to the central 8-bay section. A rendered bay to the left holds a wide tripartite window with a concrete window box to the first floor. A recessed bay at the far left contains a 40-pane stairwell window with a projecting planter below.

The eastern elevation comprises a 12-bay section with horizontally banded windows divided vertically by projecting concrete strips, and a 4-bay harled section to the left. French windows with railed balconies (the railings slope outwards towards the top to give a basket-like appearance) open to the first and second floors of the leftmost bay. A wide tripartite window with a concrete window box sits to the first floor of the right side. A projecting single-storey brick section containing the main entrance hall wraps around the left bay of the harled section, with a large window to the right flanked by slightly projecting walls. The left section is infilled by a planter. A recessed bay at the far left contains a 40-pane stairwell window with a projecting planter below.

The western elevation of the north wing is dominated by a 400-pane glazed wall providing light to the former drawing offices on the first and second floors, with an irregular pattern of fenestration and entrances below. The entrance to the stairwell is set back to the left. A recessed bay sits to the right, with a projecting bay marking the re-entrant angle.

The northern elevation of the west wing comprises 4 bays divided by vertical projecting concrete strips to the right, with 6 bays set back to the left. Steel-framed windows throughout are predominantly fitted with side and top-hung casements, though PVCu double glazing has been added to the inside in some areas. The north wing is surmounted by a later single-storey corrugated metal structure.

The interior retains major elements of its original plan, with corridors and rooms opening off them, though many partition walls have been removed. Cantilevered dog-leg staircases are a notable internal feature.

The main gateway lies to the east along Crewe Road North, featuring 2 double gates with a pedestrian entrance to the north (a second pedestrian entrance has been added to the south at a later date). The original gatepiers are constructed in brick with brick cornices and concrete coping, accompanied by a short section of coped wall studded with protruding headers of contrasting colour (defaced along the roadside) to the north. A minor gateway serves Crewe Toll, with reinforced concrete perimeter fence posts supporting the gates. Concrete steps down to the main entrance are flanked by brick parapet walls with concrete coping and a central handrail. The gates themselves are of plain steel.

Immediately to the northwest of the main gateway sits a single-storey gatehouse of rectangular plan, built in brick with a projecting concrete roof. The south elevation is cut away slightly to the right where the projecting roof is supported on a cast iron post, with a window and door immediately to the right, all surrounded by a projecting concrete frame and a harled panel beneath the window. A central entrance opens from the east elevation, with a single window to the left. The west elevation contains 4 bays. All openings feature projecting concrete architraves, and all windows are PVCu.