St. Andrew's Road: Chemical manufacturing shed and other buildings

A complex of buildings213 feet long and 105.5 feet wide at right angles to the River Colne; mostly of single storey buildings, but part two and three storeys. The brick walls, with four spans of slate roof havepatent glazing panels and acontinuoous wooden ventilating louvres. The site is said to employ 20 men. Read Hollidays expanded production to meet wartime needs, gradually taking over most of the available land in and around St Andrew's Road. The company began on a site near the gasworks, where dyestuffs were extracted from waste coal tar products. With the outbreak of war in 1914,REad Hollidays converted the plant to the production of chemicals for explosives. During the Great War, in order to control supplies, British Dyes was established. This was later to become ICI. As the demand grew, all the available land on St Andrrew's Road was occupied by Hollidays or other manufacturers undertaking to supply the War Office. A new site was found further along Leeds Road, which allowed for long-term expansion, a site still occupied by chemical plant.