Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings restoration to be showcased on TV

The building, which became the template for today's skyscrapers, will be featured in an episode of the Yesterday Channel’s new series Smoke & Steel: Secrets of the Modern World at 9pm on March 21.

The series showcases extraordinary industrial heritage stories and reveals how the pioneering solutions, inventions and techniques of the great engineers from the Industrial Revolution changed the way we live, think and build today.

Site owners Historic England,welcomed the show’s film crew and presenter, Dr Shini Somara, last May and they spent the day with Nick Hill, Historic England national conservation projects manager, who is overseeing the construction project.

Viewers will get to hear all about the fascinating story of the world’s first iron-framed building and how the innovative design of the Grade-I listed Main Mill impacted the skylines of today.

Nick Hill said: “It’s incredible to think that the pioneering cast-iron frame of the Main Mill at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings paved the way for structures to be built taller.

"It took Charles Bage’s innovative thinking and the technical skills of local ironmaster William Hazledine to develop the design and this led to a world-first right here, in the heart of Shropshire.

"It’s fantastic to be part of this fascinating series and to share in detail the story of the grandparent of the skyscraper.”

The Main Mill and Kiln at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings are currently being restored for a third century of use.

Built in 1797, the Flaxmill Maltings were first used as a flax mill, then as maltings and also as a training centre and barracks during the Second World War.

The saw-tooth roofed Main Mill was the first iron-framed building in the world and its pioneering iron frame was the template on which today’s skyscrapers were based.

Restoration of the Grade-I listed Main Mill and the Grade-II Kiln is currently taking place, supported by a £20.7 million grant, thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund combined with extra funding from the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership via its Growth Deal with Government, and from project partners Historic England, Shropshire Council and the Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings.

The revitalised site is set to become a new learning and enterprise quarter for Shrewsbury, with high quality offices for the region’s growing creative industries that will help drive the town’s renaissance as a regional economic hub, as it was when Shropshire led the way in the Industrial Revolution.

Historic England and Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings teams are busy behind-the-scenes, bringing the site back to life so everyone can enjoy it when the buildings open later this year.

There will be four floors of office space for businesses to rent, and a new visitor experience, gift shop and café which will be open to the public.