Crane Gallery

Assembling steel frame JLP01_11_63516_05

Stakis London Metropole Hotel, Edgware Road, City of Westminster, Greater London. A view from the base of a large crane during the construction of the steel frame of the extension to the Stakis Metropole Hotel, London.
Six plate girders weigh 82 tonnes each and span 26 metres to form the ceiling of the upper ballroom and provide support for 363 bedrooms on nine floors above. The size of the crane required to lift the girders into place meant road closures were needed. Laing liaised with a number of agencies including the Traffic and Abnormal Loads Police and the Paddington Basin Construction Impact Team and the installation proceeded with minimal disruption to traffic

© Historic England Archive

Milburngate JLP01_10_19698

Millburngate, Durham, County Durham. A view from Milburngate Bridge looking south-west towards construction of Millburngate, with a tower crane in front of the first stage of the centre.
Construction of the second phase of Millburngate began in August 1984. Phase I, shown in this photograph beyond the construction site, had been developed in 1974; Phase II would increase the centre from 102,000sqft to 187,000sqft. The second phase would be linked to Phase I by a covered pedestrian mall. The five storey complex would comprise one main floor of shopping, with storage above, and two lower levels of car parking and servicing, offices, and restaurants with views over the River Wear. During construction, "numerous engineering and groundworks problems" were encountered, including the contiguous piled wall and its ground anchors. The remodelling of a supermarket, which would provide a link between the Phase I and Phase II developments, could not begin until the current occupier had moved out. The centre was completed on 24th October 1986 and was officially opened on 15th April 1987 by Princess Alexandra. An illustration of the building was featured on a stamp as part of a set produced in 1984 on the theme of Urban Renewal. The complex was later renamed the Gates. It was closed in 2016 and was demolished to make way for Milburngate, a mixed development of office, retail and residential units

© Historic England Archive

Cranes JLP01_08_096485

Graythorp, Hartlepool. A view of the construction of an oil platform at Graythorp, showing cranes around the emerging structure.
In the early 1970s Laing Pipelines Offshore constructed the Graythorp fabrication yard and dry dock on the site of the old William Gray Shipyard. The company created a dry dock which was used for the construction of fixed platform North Sea drilling rigs for the BP North Sea Oil Project. By 1972, one thousand men were working on site to build a tubular structure which would support a drilling rig in the North Sea destined for the Forties Oilfield. The cranes on site at Graythorp included two 509 Revolver cranes, capable of lifting 813 tonnes, and six Manitowoc cranes imported from America

© Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection