Between 2000 and 2003, Urban Splash redeveloped Fireproof and Doubling Mill into offices, winning a RIBA Award.

[6][needs update] After migrating from Scotland in the 1780s, the Murrays established themselves as manufacturers of textile machinery before moving into spinning fine yarn.

[8] In 1790, Adam Murray leased land in Ancoats;[9] in partnership with his brother George, began construction of his first mill – which was complete by about 1798.

[7] Construction took approximately a year and millwright Thomas Lowe – who had worked on Richard Arkwright's first two factories – planned the building.

[12] Decker Mill was completed in time to exploit the economic boom in the cotton trade that followed the brief peace in the war with France from 1802 to 1803.

[13] After the completion of the Ancoats section of the Rochdale Canal in 1804, raw materials no longer had to be moved by cart.

[11] Coal and cotton could be moved directly into the complex and there was a readily available supply of water for the steam engines from the private basin on the canal.

[22] The contract, Fairbairn's first as a millwright, involved the replacement of line shafting in the complex, with wrought iron line-shafting designed to work at higher speeds.

[25] The building covered 644 square metres (6,930 sq ft) and just over half of this area would have been occupied by a gasometer house which would have supplied the complex with gas used for lighting.

[25] Engineer Joshua Field visited the mill in 1821 and commented "they spin the finest thread".

[26] Despite the continued expansion, by 1824 competitors McConnel and Kennedy had overtaken the Murrays as Manchester's biggest cotton spinners.

[33] In September 1898, A & G Murray was "voluntarily wound up and conveyed to the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association Limited (FCSDA)".

[32] The association had the advantage of great size in comparison to the competition, and had the necessary clout to secure raw materials.

[35] With Dixon as its Managing Director until 1917,[32] by the 1920s, the FCSDA was the largest and most successful cotton-spinning association in the world with over 60 mills and 30,000 employees.

[36] The fire lasted for about 12 hours and caused an estimated £20,000 damage and resulted in 200 employees at the mill losing their jobs.

The exact reason for this reduction is unknown, however, it is speculated that the structure of the buildings was struggling to cope with the weight of increasingly heavy machinery.

[40] In 1930 the Bengal Street block was also reduced in height by 2 storeys and buttresses were constructed against the south wall of Decker Mill.

[43] In 2000, Total Architecture appointed Urban Splash to convert Fireproof and Doubling Mill into office space.

[45][46] The North West Development Agency used a compulsory purchase order to take control of the main site in 2003.

Together with an additional grant from the North West Development Agency, a £10 million regeneration project took place between 2004 and 2006.

The project included repair and strengthening of the structure, the restoration of the canal basin, a new roof and windows, and the reinstatement of two missing floors from the Murray Street block.

The conversion, including the replacement of the demolished Bengal Street block, was expected to start in 2007 or 2008 and take three years.

[27] In order to stop employees wandering off and taking breaks that they were not entitled to, tunnels were built under the road between the main complex and the later mills on the other side of Bengal Street.

[50] The first stage of unpacking the raw cotton and cleaning out impurities, which was carried out by unskilled workers,[51] produced large amounts of dust that was both a health hazard and serious fire risk.

These assistants were often children, and consisted of "piecers" who rejoined broken threads and mule scavengers who cleaned the machinery.

[51] Child labour was generally considered by mill managers to be an important way of securing a skilled adult work force.