Heap's Rice Mill

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Heap's Rice Mill was a rice milling business founded by Joseph Heap and his sons on Pownall Street in Liverpool, around 1778–1780. It began as a rice mill and later added warehouses, which were eventually merged into one large building. The rice used in Kellogg's Rice Krispies was ground there. The brick building, with sandstone dressings, has a timber and cast-iron frame, varied roofs, and a square plan, standing about seven storeys high. Until the 1880s, the Heap family also owned ships (the Diamond H Line) trading between Liverpool and Australia via Rangoon and the East Indies. The firm passed through several owners but remained operational until 1988, when it moved to a new site on Regent Road; the Pownall Street site stayed partly in use until 2005. In 2014 the building was granted Grade II listed status, protecting it as an important early-to-mid 19th-century warehouse adapted in the late 19th century for rice processing and storage, with an austere style linked to Liverpool’s heritage. The listing notes visible alterations that show the evolution of technology over time. Plans in 2014 to convert the building into luxury apartments as part of a £130 million development were criticized as “façadism” because the interior would not be kept. In 2017 developer Inhabit took over and said a planning agreement was in place to begin converting it into luxury flats. Work began in December 2022 and is ongoing.