Portland Works Open Day

Yorkshire Post

This year marks 10 years since Portland Works was saved for the public, as the birthplace of stainless steel. Once a Victorian factory, it's where Harry Brearley discovered what could be done with stainless steel, driving Sheffield's reputation as the steel city. Then, in disrepair and in danger of being turned into flats, 500 people bought shares to buy the building in 2013. Now, it houses units where artisan workers can continue their craft - knifemaking, steelworking, arts, leathermakers etc.  Saturday July 29 it throws open its doors to the public that saved it.

Transcript

00:00 staring into space.

00:02 Hello, I'm Aisha Heaton, I'm the General Manager here at Portland Works.

00:08 Portland Works is very special, it's a Victorian ex-cutlery factory

00:13 and it's one of the few examples of an integrated cutlery factory.

00:17 So if you look around, you can see where all the different processes would be to make cutlery.

00:22 But now we're a modern enterprise, we're home to around 30 small businesses.

00:29 Lots of makers, craftspeople and still some cutlery and metal workers as well.

00:33 I'm Paul Isiard, I'm the Chair of the Friends of Portland Works,

00:37 a charity set up in 2015 to raise money to help with the restoration of the works.

00:44 Since then we've invested over £50,000 on projects designed to help make the building waterproof,

00:51 weatherproof and of course bring it up to standards whilst respecting the fact that it's a Grade 2 star listed building.

01:03 So everything that's done here by the volunteers and contractors is done to a very high conservation standard.

01:08 You might ask why I'm dressed as I am.

01:12 On our open day on Saturday I'm going to be giving talks about the life of Mr R.F. Mosley who had this factory built in 1879.

01:23 And the date in question that I'm going to deliver my talk on is 1913,

01:30 which is a very significant date in the history of steel making because the first ever stainless steel cutlery was made here in 1913.

01:40 So Mr Mosley is going to be telling our audience all about that discovery and all about his early life as well.

01:47 Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I'm Mr Robert Mosley and you're in my wonderful factory that I had built in 1879.

01:56 I'd like to tell you about my life since I was born in London in 1841, but the year is 1913

02:03 and I'm very excited about the modern development that's taken place at the works only this year.

02:09 Mr Harry Brearley in collaboration with my works manager Mr Ernest Stewart has developed a fantastic new rustless steel which doesn't tarnish

02:20 and I think it will revolutionise manufacturing across Sheffield.

02:25 But to start with we are going to be making the world's first ever stainless steel cutlery.

02:32 So we've got around 30 businesses here. We've got lots of creative people.

02:36 So we've got artists, we've got bands, we've got tool makers and knife makers still, we've got silver platers,

02:43 we've got the Victorian forge still, blacksmiths, woodworkers, leather workers, all kinds of creative industries here.

02:51 All small businesses.

02:53 My name's Michael May. I am a knife maker. This is Michael May Knives.

02:59 I've been making knives for about 16, 17 years now and I've been here at Portland Works for about 7 years.

03:09 After I'd left college I was looking for a job and ended up working at Taylor's Eyewitness making pocket knives

03:17 and I've really enjoyed it and that's basically what I've done ever since.

03:21 We've got a few units that we'll be renting out again soon.

03:24 We're not open to the public. This is a working environment. We've got stuff happening here all day, every day.

03:29 But our open day that comes up on Saturday, people are welcome to come and have a look round.

03:34 The open day on Saturday is 10 while 4.

03:37 So some of our tenants are opening up and letting people come in and see what they make and what they do.

03:42 We've got a choir singing, we've got a drumming workshop, we've got stalls, we've got tombola, we're selling stuff.

03:49 But really it's an opportunity to come and have a look at this Victorian building. It's a rare opportunity really.

03:55 So come and see what we've been doing to restore and preserve the building.

03:58 Looking forward to seeing people coming through the door on Saturday.

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