Between 2017 and 2019 significant works were carried out to Queen’s Mill supported by funding from Power to Change and a significant contribution of time and skills from Castleford Heritage Trust volunteers
Internal Access Improvements included:
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Lift
A passenger lift was installed and has provided access to the three floors in the Island Wing of the Mill. This has enabled us to deliver community activities on all three floors. We were also able to break through to the Heart of the Mill section of the building and have the lift stop on two additional floors in this part of the building. This has enabled us to offer access to our milling floor, where we provide public demonstrations, and our museum floor which is under development.
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Staircases
We commissioned some new bespoke wooden staircases which replaced the steep Mill staircases, making it easier and safer to access the higher floors of the Mill. The new staircases were designed to complement the Mill building as well as being a practical addition.
New spaces were created in the building including:
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Office spaces
Three new office spaces were created. One of the rooms is now used as the Heritage Trust office, two others are rented out.
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Community room
As with the office spaces, the Drake Community Room has received new electrics, heating, windows and floor covering. This is now hired by groups and is used regularly for our own community activities.
A new building – The Boathouse – was built on site.
- The initial part of this project was the demolition of the existing workshop space, and the obtaining of planning permission for the new building.
- The Boathouse was then constructed using an insulated concrete formwork method of building. The Boathouse has three separate rooms and all are now rented out to individual businesses.
The old ‘Wheatstore’ on the right-hand side of the site was fully demolished.
- This was completed over a four week period and filmed by a TV Production company specializing in demolitions.
Finally, a New Fire Alarm System and Bridge were installed.
- On taking advice from the Fire Service around fire exits and the capacity of the new rooms we had created we realised that further measures were required in order to have a safe building and to maximise the capacity of each room.
- This included a new fire alarm system and a bridge which would link the Island gallery to the main building via an alternative exit route.
- The bridge is now used as a ‘viewing platform’ for the river, and an additional ‘break-out’ space for functions.
Our thanks go to Power to Change for providing additional funding to achieve these results.
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