The ICI Plastics site
By Daphne Knott
In 1988 ICI decided to change the design of their logo and a new Perspex sign was installed on Directorate and Sales offices. The close up of the new sign as well as the daylight and dusk shots of the building were all taken in 1988.
The aerial view is earlier, showing the site in the 1970s.
Many thanks to Mr Alan Godfrey for supplying these pictures of the site.
This page was added on 09/01/2012.
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Browsing about the demise of ICI and the fate, in particular, of the Welwyn Garden City site, I was delighted to see the name of Robbie McDonald who I worked with in the early 1970. They were optimistic times indeed with many happy memories
My name is Philip Prince and I was the Establishment Officer when I retired in 1986. I joined ICI in 1962 as an experimental engineer on Tranapex. I worked on Glass filled nylon extruders and Merolite. Before going over to site services. Happy Days !!!
Greetings from the daughter of an engineer who worked there in 1967/68. Osyp Mushka. We loved WGC.
Hello. .would anyone know a Thomas Croisal..German Engineer who worked at ICI. .this would have been in the early to mid 1980…
He lived in Hitchin. ..I am desperately trying to trace him…I lived and worked in British Aerospace in Stevenage at the time…I no this is a long shot. …sorry don’t have any more details. ..I believe that he worked in the plastics division. ..he was from Frankfurt. ..if anyone remembers. .him please get in touch
Many thanks. ..Bernard.
I worked in the engineering department of ICI from 1968 to 1974. Starting in Tewin Road designing Propathene production facilities based on the earlier pilot plant, we later moved to the main engineering offices in Bessemer Road.
The intention was to build three streams producing both homopolymer and copolymer polypropylene next to each other but for safety reasons the middle stream was removed. The second stream utilised the large computing facilities at Welwyn using Isopedac a system developed in conjunction with the Manchester Institute of Technology (MIT) for project management.
I was asked to act as coordinator between Engineering and Construction at Wilton, on Teesside, spending my time on site. Production was so successful that a total of five plants were built to the same design.
My years at ICI were rewarding times, and I joined the Camera club as secretary, the mountaineer club and Christian Fellowship, which was held in the Bowles pavilion, also used by the site Hairdresser. Nic Faldo came and gave golfing lessons in the canteen. I spent my last two years in Mechanical Services, under Phil Smith and Ken Hayden, on Polyethylene 5 and Dumfries sites.
The Polyethylene 5 plant was closed in 2001 by BP which had bought it from ICI in 1982. The polypropylene plant was closed the same year by Basell.
During those years ICI Plastics Division helped projects such as the attempts at man powered flight and the Mission Aviation hovercraft with plastics materials.
I worked alongside Eric Watson in 1973 for a brief time. Nobby Clarke who I knew as Grenny (Grenville) died 21 August 2016 and I attended his funeral.
Thank you for the chance to reminisce on wonderful people and times.