All change for waterfront

摘要

For 160 years Albion Wharf echoed to the sounds of the malting industry, and Paul's Maltings, alongside the Old Customs House, was at the heart of this industry, which dominated the town of Ipswich during the 19th and 20th centuries. In its heyday it produced 30 000t of malt a year, which was exported around the world, but with the development of newer and larger maltings the industry moved away from the Ipswich waterfront, which lapsed into disrepair (Fig 1). The area is now being regenerated with new restaurants, bars, marinas and homes. Albion Wharf itself, which was the last malting to close in November 2004, is being sympathetically redeveloped as Regatta Quay by City Living Developments to reflect both the history of the wharf and the aspirations ofrna modern waterside residential development at the centre of the current regeneration. When the developer took over the site, Block A was an old yard area and Block B was a modern brick building sitting on strip foundations. Block C was occupied by relatively modern concrete silos which were in good condition and had massive piled foundations whilst Block D, which was the malt house, was in a poor state of repair with cracked and defective brickwork, rotten timbers, crumbling roofetc(Fig 2).