Sentinel Works
Date 23 February 1994
Event ID 892032
Category Management
Type Site Management
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/892032
Early ferro-concrete pattern store, built on the Hennebique system. Built 1903-1904 for Alley and MacLellan, engineers. 4 storeys, 12 x 3 bays; concrete panel walls, large metal-framed windows, off-centre entrance bay, wide door with 3 tall lights over added circa 1930; classical cornice, flat roof. REAR: similar, with fire escape cantilevered out on ornate cast-iron brackets. INTERIOR: free of columns, the load entirely carried by the externally expressed frame. Top floor has extra concrete cross pieces to accommodate shelves of pattern store.
The first fully reinforced concrete building having a ferro-concrete frame and panels, and the third oldest to survive in the UK. This building's trabeated form anticipates the American-inspired daylight factories by Albert Kahn, unlike any similar building in England. The foundry to the rear is steel framed and of lesser architectural interest. A light railway was used within the foundry. Alley and MacLellan built around 500 'knock down' ships (dismantled and reassembled on inland waters) and developed the Sentinel steam lorry, produced at their branches at Shrewsbury and Worcester. Owned form 1918-37 by Beardmores, and passed to the Weir Group in 1960. (Historic Scotland)
Alley & MacLellan was an engineering firm formed in 1875 by Stephen Alley and John MacLellan. Their Sentinel Engineering Works opened in London Road but soon moved to Polmadie. The firm developed the Sentinel trademark, which they used to brand a wide range of engineering products for use on land and at sea. (Glasgow Museums)
