Post Office and Sorting Office Newton Street Manchester

Built on the site of Houldsworth Mill, being an early example of reinforced concrete construction on the Hennebique system. The tender of E Nuttall & Company in the sum of £13,879-18-6 was accepted. Other tenderers included The Liverpool Hennebique Company and the Yorkshire Hennebique Company. Closed and converted to residential accommodation ("The Sorting House").

BUILDING In FERRO-CONCRETE: MORE EFFICIENT THAN BRICKS - The new Post Office buildings in Newton Street, Piccadilly, were visited on Saturday by members of the Manchester Association of Students of the Institution of Civil Engineers. The feature of interest to them was the work being carried on with reinforced concrete on the Hennebique system. In this method, the concrete is tied or reinforced by the use of steel rods or bars. Such a building is of ideal fire-proof construction. In this country, little has been seen; perhaps, of this ferro-concrete work, mainly. as it is said, by reason of the fact that the Local Government Board does not agree to give local authorities sufficiently long terms for the repayment. of loans borrowed for works so constructed. The advantages of such a method have been illustrated, however; in this district. The well-known transit sheds on the Ship Canal at the Manchester port are of ferro-concrete build, and Mr S. S. Platt, president of the Association has demonstrated the value of the system in bridge construction about Rochdale. The attention of engineers has been drawn very strongly of late in this country to the value of such method of building. In one very important piece of work in this neighbourhood, where the ferro-concrete system prevailed, the cost and efficiency were compared with the brickwork, for which estimates were first received. IL was found that while the ferro-concrete structure had even greater strength, and still less bulk than brickwork, it ran abo to something like 5 per cent less in cost. [Manchester Guardian 23 March 1908 page 3]

NEW POST-OFFICE BUILDING IN NEWTON-STREET: TEST OF FERRO-CONCRETE - Yesterday a number of architects and civil engineers visited the new Post-office buildings in Newton-street to see the new building material; ferro-concrete, under test. Reinforced concrete, or ferro-concrete, as the Hennebique system has been making great progress of late. Most of the railway companies and many Government departments have made use of it for buildings and extensions, but in Manchester building by-laws have prevented private individuals from making. use of it for warehouses or factories. The advantages claimed for it are that it is fireproof, that it is less costly than steel construction, and less sensitive to vibration. In the test, carried out yesterday a ferro-concrete beam of 20 feet span carrying a load of sand equal to 1.75 cwt. per. square foot showed a deflection of only one twenty-fifth of an inch. A steel girder under similar conditions would have shown a deflection of at least a quarter of an inch. It is, of course, a serious matter to alter the building by-laws, which form a convenient standard of reference in examining great number of plans which are submitted the authorities, but on the other hand it is important that builders should be able to take advantage of every improvement in methods of construction. [Manchester Guardian 1 July 1908 page 12]

Reference        Building News 23 March 1906 Page 420 – proposed post office
Reference        Builder 15 June 1907 page 728
Reference        Building News 27 March 1908 Page 474
Reference        Building News 5 June 1908 Page 836
Reference        Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser 1 July 1908, page 10
Reference        Manchester Guardian 23 March 1908 page 3
Archive            National Archives WORK 13/273, 305, 350