St. Andrew's Road: Column House

A single storey building 35 feet 6 inches wide and 74feet 6 inches long at right angles to and on the west side of the River Colne. The 30 foot high brick walls, without internal floors have windows on two levels as well as patent glazing in the roof. A continuous wooden venilating louvre occupies the full length of the roof.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.