1980s Gallery

Hospital at night JLP01_10_26669

West Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, West Dorset. A night time view showing part of West Dorset County Hospital fronting an internal courtyard, with the glazed facade of the main stairwell lit up from within.
In the early 1980s plans were developed for a modern hospital to replace the old Dorchester Hospital, at a new site to the west of the town centre. A joint venture of Laing's South West Region and Haden Young Limited were responsible for Phase I of the construction project, which was to provide 149 beds and included maternity and geriatric units, two operating theatres and a pathology and X-ray department. Phase I on the north part of the new site was completed in the late 1980's under the name West Dorset County Hospital. When Phase II on the south part of the site was completed in the mid 1990s, the whole site became known as Dorset County Hospital

© Historic England Archive

Final piece JLP01_11_30115_07

STANSTED AIRPORT, STANSTED, STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET, UTTLESFORD, ESSEX. A crane lifting the final roof dome of the terminal building at Stansted Airport in to position as part of the topping out ceremony.
Laing Management Contracting was appointed consultant contractor for the Stansted development in October 1985. The development included new road access from the M11, a new rail link with London and the north, short and long term car parking, new taxiways and aprons, and a new terminal building with an automated passenger transit system. Work on site began in April 1986 and the new terminal, designed to accommodate 8 million passengers per year, opened in March 1991.
The terminal building covers 8 acres roofed by 121 square domes, each 18m square and weighing 12 tonnes. The domes were preassembled as units from steel lattice work and lifted on to the structural steel supporting trees, designed to maximise floor space for passenger circulation with as few barriers as possible. Triangular roof lights provide natural light and uplighters were concealed in the branches of the roof supports. The lower level houses the baggage handling system, building services machinery and the railway station. Paul Channon, Secretary of State for Transport, was given the honour of controlling the crane to place the final section of roof as part of the topping out ceremony. This photograph appeared in the March 1988 issue of Team Spirit, the Laing company newsletter

© Historic England Archive

Tower top JLP01_09_871160

SEVERN BRIDGE, M48, AUST, SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE. A Laing worker standing on a platform at the top of the Aust tower of the Severn Bridge while shielding his eyes from the sun.
The original design and construction of the Severn Bridge had under estimated the increased volume of traffic since its completion in 1966 and whilst built to last 120 years it was found to require remedial work after just 20. Laing Industrial Engineering & Construction won the £29.5m contract from the Department of Transport and strengthening work on all elements of the structure began in May 1987. The project was completed in April 1990 in the same year that Laing jointly won the contract for the construction of the second Severn Crossing that would take the traffic pressure off the first bridge and extend its lifespan even further.
The photograph was taken during strengthening work undertaken by Laing. It was published in the December 1990 issue of Team Spirit, the Laing company newsletter. The view shows the deck of the bridge below stretching out towards the South Wales landscape

© Historic England Archive