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Protech/Berry Engineering buildings from Ashley Street

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Description: Berry Engineering was established in 1907 by Edwin Daniel Berry as E. D. Berry General Engineer. It was originally located in Main Street, but as the business grew, it moved to Ferguson Street, later expanding up Ashley Street.

All three of Edwin Berry's sons worked for the company – Frank (Frances Leslie) trained as a tinsmith, Zean (Zenas Jefferson) as a refrigeration engineer and Edwin Jnr (Edwin Horace John) as a welder. Frank became the senior partner in the mid-1930s when Edwin senior began missionary work in Fiji.

The business was responsible for several patents and manufactured a wide variety of metal equipment for the dairy and brewing industries. It was bought out by Mauri Refrigeration in the 1960s, later being known as Protech Engineering. In the 1980s Protech was acquired by Steelfort Engineering.