7 photos of Ipswich Waterfront buildings before development

Ipswich Borough Council has confirmed Drees & Sommer as the multi-disciplinary consultant for the Western Gateway project.

The scheme aims to revitalise the western gateway to the Waterfront.

Plans cover St Peter’s Dock car park, the Paul’s Silo structure and the adjacent former Burton Son and Sanders building.

Paul’s Silo is unlisted and dates from 1951, when it was built on the site of earlier oil cake mill.

R & W Paul bought the site in 1946.

The silo was joined to the eighteenth-century Grade II listed St Peter’s Warehouse.

That warehouse was destroyed by fire in 2000, then demolished, leaving only the lower part of the east and north walls standing.

Land is now used as the St Peter’s Dock car park.

Burton Son and Sanders had occupied buildings beside the silo from at least 1851 to 1993.

The unused concrete frame building was used as a factory.

A neighbouring brick building was a warehouse and now houses Marinero Lounge, which opened in July 2025.

The River Orwell came close to flooding the low parts of Ipswich during an exceptionally high tide in December 1954 (Image: Newsquest)

Looking towards the Cranfield’s and Paul’s buildings as a ship transfers cargo at the maltings in 1960s (Image: Supplied)

Common Quay, from the island site, in the 1970s. In the centre is the Custom House, which was completed in 1845. The building on the right is now used as offices called Waterfront House. Pauls' Silo is on the left (Image: David Kindred Archive)

St Peters Church, Ipswich, in 1960, taken from the top of Paul's Silo at the dock. The church will remain at the centre of the development (Image: Newsquest)

A fire ripped through the derelict Paul's Silo on Ipswich Waterfront in 2008 (Image: Newsquest)

Little remains of St Peter's Warehouse, with this picture dating from 2010 (Image: Newsquest)

The R & W Paul Silo at Ipswich Waterfront, which has been an eyesore for many years (Image: Supplied)