People Gallery

Key ceremony JLP01_11_55225_07

CHELSEA AND WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL, FULHAM ROAD, KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA, GREATER LONDON. Representatives from Laing Management, North West Thames Regional Health Authority, and Riverside Health Authority at the handover ceremony for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Laing Management Contracting worked on the construction of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on behalf of the North West Thames Regional Health Authority between 1989 and 1993. The new teaching hospital was built on the site of the old St Stephen's Hospital, which was demolished in the early months of 1989. The use of fast track construction techniques enabled the entire project to be completed in less than 5 years, and the hospital was officially opened by the Queen on 13 May 1993. In the photograph, the people holding a large cutout of a key are Brian Zelly, joint managing director of Laing Management and Pam Castro, director of estates for North West Thames Regional Health Authority, with another unnamed woman

© Historic England Archive

Opening the Bull Ring JLP01_08_068575

BULL RING CENTRE, BULL RING, BIRMINGHAM, WEST MIDLANDS. The opening ceremony for the Bull Ring Centre, showing HRH Prince Philip and company walking down the spiral ramp as a huge crowd watches
On 29th May 1964, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, opened the Bull Ring Centre. The Duke toured the site, meeting various people along the way and unveiling a commemorative plaque in the Centre Court. A formal lunch was then held in his honour at the Mecca Banqueting Hall; part of the new Bull Ring development. Approximately 400 guests attended, including the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Alderman F. Price, and William Kirby Laing, and speeches about the scheme were delivered. The ceremony was held on Oak Apple Day, an old public holiday on 29th May commemorating the restoration of the English monarchy. An oak apple spray was therefore presented to the Duke to wear on the lapel of his suit jacket

© Historic England Archive

Examining a model JLP01_08_066009

BULL RING CENTRE, BULL RING, BIRMINGHAM, WEST MIDLANDS. A group of councillors from Utrecht, Holland, being shown an architectural model of the Bull Ring Centre during a visit to the site.
On Tuesday 2nd July 1963, 11 members of the City Council of Utrecht, Holland, and 7 officers, including the Director of Public Works and City Surveyor, visited the Bull Ring development. The councillors spent the morning with the Birmingham Corporation at the Civic Centre, followed by a lunch with representatives of the Birmingham Corporation and the Laing Development Company. In the afternoon, the councillors toured the Bull Ring site and had tea in the cafeteria of the new Woolworth's store

© Historic England Archive