Wheelgate rising from the flames

10:47am Thursday 27th March 2008

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RESTORATION work on Victorian buildings in Malton town centre engulfed in a fire six years ago is now complete - thanks to local experts who have rallied to the cause.

The owner, the Fitzwilliam Estates, will now market the premises, which could be used as shops, offices and storage space.

It looks much as it did before the blaze ripped through Dales florist and greengrocer shops in Wheelgate, killing the Dales' family cat.

The flames quickly spread to solicitors' offices next door, as well as other neighbouring properties on November 5, 2002.

It took 35 firefighters more than three hours to prevent the inferno from engulfing the whole of Malton's main street. At first it was thought that fireworks were responsible, but later an electrical fault was blamed.

Now consulting engineering firm Maltech of Newgate, Malton, appointed by the Fitzwilliam Estates, has restored the two shop buildings to their mid-1800s glory. The architect in charge of the year-long £500,000 project was Francis Johnson and Partners from Bridlington, which specialises in traditional and classical architecture.

It was a tough task given that the site is in a conservation area, in the middle of the busy high street and of archaeological interest - medieval cellars had been found nearby.

The shop's original frontage had included a riveted steel framework which carried the structure over large windows. The original plan was to retain this and build a new open-plan shop area behind it.

But it quickly became clear the framework was now not strong enough, so Malton planners agreed to allow the front elevation to be removed, so long as it was replaced with a new one of similar style.

Alan Mitchell, managing director of Maltech, which was responsible for Scampston Hall's new award winning visitor centre, near Malton, said: "This permission helped us a great deal, as the original frontage also included a tall, fragile masonry wall.

"Replacing the whole front elevation has vastly reduced the health and safety issues involved.

"The project has been quite a challenge, but one that Maltech has risen to.

"The newly-restored building will be a superb combination of a modern structural skeleton' and a traditional façade - in short, the best of both worlds."

He said that, luckily, the specialist components needed were supplied locally from Kingspan Wards, at Sherburn, one of the main metal deck suppliers in the UK.