Budenberg Gauge Company (Schaffer & Budenberg) Woodfield Road, Broadheath, Altrincham

Schaffer & Budenburg, a company which achieved world recognition for the manufacturers of precision pressure gauges, was founded in Germany in 1852. It came to Manchester in the nineteenth century and moved to new premises in Altrincham in 1912. The office building dates from 1913-14. Main facade of Accrington brick with terra cotta dressings and unusual cast iron spandrel panels at first floor level. The central clock tower incorporated a column of mercury over 32 feet long, used to calibrate the gauges. Built by Gerrard of Swinton, it still retains the camouflage paint applied to the factory chimney during the second World War. [ Don Bayliss (ed) Altrincham: A History]

Reference           Don Bayliss (ed) Altrincham: A History

BUDENBERG ENGINEERING WORKS Engineering works in the Manchester are one industrial monument type which is under particular threat from redevelopment at the moment, often because such 19th and 20th century buildings are not protected. In 2003 UMAU had the opportunity to record Budenberg’s engineering works in Broadheath, Altrincham (centred SJ 7648 8898), before partial demolition and conversion to apartments (the first of its kind for an engineering works in the region). Budenberg Gauge Co Ltd established their factory at Broadheath by 1914. making Bourdon pressure gauges, Schaffer diaphragms and dead‑weight pressure testers. The factory closed in 2002. The one building to be retained in the development is the three storey brick and steel Budenberg office‑cum factory building on Woodfield Road built 1913-1914. This has an imposing clock tower which has a stained glass window commemorating the Budenberg company. The offices lay at the western end of the building, whilst most of the ground floor was used for assembly and was dominated by an extensive wooden floor covering. The top floor was used as the draughtsmen department.

The building was designed by the architect Alfred Steinthall of King Street, Manchester. The rest of the site, which was later cleared comprised single storey brick and steel buildings with multi‑light roofs used as the Machine Shop, the Boiler House, Forge, chimney stack, well, Paint Spray Shop & Tool Room, and probably the stable building. The factory complex forms part of the Broadheath Industrial Estate, the immediate precursor of the Trafford Park Industrial Estate and as such an area of national importance to the development of engineering in Britain. Broadheath became a centre for precision and machine‑tool manufacture. [Mike Nevell University of Manchester Archaeological Unit]

Reference    Don Bayliss (ed) : Altrincham: A History
Reference:   Mike Nevell University of Manchester Archaeological Unit