Historic Huddersfield building firm Aedas celebrates 175 years

Aug 17 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE crowd was vast, spilling out across the hillside.

And it was truly a monumental day, both for Huddersfield and for one local firm, watched by many hundreds and captured for posterity in an early photograph.

The occasion was the laying of the foundation stone for what was then known as Queen Victoria’s Silver Jubilee Tower on a prominent hillside above Almondbury.

Now, of course, it’s known across the region as Castle Hill and the tower is the most recognisable of Huddersfield’s landmarks.

The work on that tower was a key moment in the absorbing history of a Huddersfield firm.

Aedas are celebrating 175 years in business in Huddersfield and, fittingly, will do so next week with a Champagne ceremony at Castle Hill.

Their firm, then known as Abbey Hanson Rowe, were the supervising surveyors for the Castle Hill project.

The firm has also been responsible for work on many landmark buildings in Huddersfield and beyond, including Huddersfield Town Hall, St Peter’s Church, Bretton Hall, the University of Huddersfield’s historic Ramsden Building and Dewsbury Market.

In more recent years projects have included Cathedral House, in St Thomas’s Road, and the Examiner building in Queen Street South.

The firm has also been chosen to design the planned new £30m Huddersfield Sports Centre, with its swimming pools, fun pools, squash courts, fitness rooms and climbing wall.

Aedas managing director Robert Grayson said: “We’ve enjoyed a range of architectural and building consultancy work over a wide range of sectors in Huddersfield throughout the years.

“Aedas or Abbey Hanson Rowe as it was then designed the Bath House at Broadbents which was listed last year.

“Huddersfield Town Hall was designed by John H Abbey of Abbey Hanson Rowe and 150 years on, we are in the process of refurbishing and restoring it back to its past glory.