Workmen Gallery

Runway construction JLP01_08_007948

RAF Gaydon, Gaydon, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. Work underway on the construction of a new runway at Gaydon Airfield, showing a Wright's roller and a pedestrian roller compacting the concrete working course.
Work began on the construction of a runway at Gaydon Airfield in early 1952. As part of the project, a former runway, largely abandoned following the Second World War, was superseded by a newly constructed runway nearly 1 3/4 miles long and 200 feet wide. Also built were access tracks and a taxi-track. The runway was constructed on 8 inches of hardcore, with four inches of concrete laid on top, followed by 12 inches of high grade concrete, and completed with 2 1/2 inches of tarmacadam and 1 1/2 inches of bituminous macadam. This photograph was published in the March 1953 edition of Team Spirit, the Laing employee newsletter

© Historic England Archive

Piling foundations JLP01_01_167_38

CORYTON OIL REFINERY, THURROCK, ESSEX. Foundation work in progress for the Crude Distillation Unit at Coryton Oil Refinery, showing men working on pile foundations and a back actor machine excavating between piles.
The caption beneath this album print reads Crude Distillation Unit - 16" x 16" vertical and raking piles, breaking away concrete surrounding main reinforcement prior to burning off at cut off level. Back Actor excavating between piles (Tower Foundations).
Coryton Oil Refinery was ceremonially opened in May 1954 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. It was operated by Vacuum Oil Company; a unit of Mobil. From 1996, the refinery was run by BP as part of a joint venture with Mobil. Ownership of Coryton Refinery was later transferred to BP in 2000, and then Petroplus Holdings in 2007. Major products of the refinery included petrol and diesel, aviation fuels, liquefied petroleum gas, fuel oils and bitumen. Coryton Oil Refinery was closed down in 2012

© Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection