Footage of Halcrow’s projects throughout the 20th Century found

Listen to this article

With a pedigree stretching back to 1868, Halcrow has a rich history of exciting projects through the decades.

When the company moved to its new corporate headquarters in London in 2010, a number of treasures were unearthed in the dusty basement of its old home at Vineyard House in London’s Hammersmith.

These included a treasure trove of 16mm films made in the 50s, 60s and 70s showing some glimpses of contemporary Halcrow projects.

Some are scratched and the colour has faded in most, though the digitising process has corrected some of the colour loss. Most of the films are in good condition and have now been viewed and catalogued – ready for everyone to enjoy.

A film featuring the making of the London Underground Victoria line in the 60s has been found, with the first of a five-part series produced by British Transport Films on behalf of London Transport.

The episode, entitled Over and Under: Operations at Oxford Circus 1962-64, describes the route of the new line, the planning stage and the problems that had to be overcome by the project team.

The company has played a major role in the development of the Gulf states.

This is demonstrated in four films showing the construction of three major port projects in the 1970s – Port Rashid and Jebel Ali Port, Queen Elizabeth II inaugurates Port of Jebel Ali and the Port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Halcrow was also the consulting engineer on the construction of a new type of lighthouse on the Royal Sovereign Shoal near Eastbourne on the south coast of England.

Back in 1972, a compelling professionally-made film documented the design and construction.

There’s also a narrated documentary about the initial site investigation for the Channel Tunnel produced in 1964 and a technical film by the National Film Board of South Africa on the Orange Fish Tunnel as an example of how to build a tunnel using concrete.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest Rail News

Andrew Haines looks back on five years of CP6

As Control Period 6 (CP6) comes to a close on 31 March, Network Rail is taking a look back...

More like this...