Building Power Stations Gallery

Joiner JLP01_08_049264

PORTISHEAD B POWER STATION, PORTISHEAD AND NORTH WESTON, NORTH SOMERSET. A Laing joiner, working on the construction of Portishead B Power Station.
A cropped version of this image was published in the People section of the May 1957 edition of Laing's monthly newsletter, Team Spirit.
Portishead B Power Station opened in the mid 1950's. Portishead's original power station, which was completed in 1929, became known as Power Station A'. Portishead B was built on part of the Great Western Railway's original Portishead Railway Station, which was demolished and rebuilt closer to the centre. Portishead B had eight coal-fired and four oil-fired steam boilers. The power station closed in 1982, and the chimneys were demolished in 1992

© Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection

Steel lining JLP01_11_52397_06

SIZEWELL B POWER STATION, LEISTON, SUFFOLK COASTAL. The reactor building under construction at Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station, seen from a tower crane to the north, showing the steel liner of the domed roof.
Sizewell B is one of two nuclear power stations on the Suffolk coast near the village of Sizewell. Sizewell A, its predecessor, is in the process of being decommissioned. Sizewell B is a Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR); the first of its kind to be constructed in the UK. John Laing plc were awarded the contract for the main civil engineering work on 19th May 1987. Sizewell B was completed in 1995, after 8 years of construction, and is operated by EDF Energy

© Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection

Constructing Reactor 1 JLP01_01_074_10

BERKELEY POWER STATION, BERKELEY, HAM AND STONE, STROUD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. A view over Reactor No.1 during the construction of Berkeley Nuclear Power Station, showing the jib for the 10 ton Scotch Derrick being lifted in to place for the erection of the Monotower Crane, with the Monotower foundation on the right of the foreground.
Berkeley Nuclear Power Station was the first commercial nuclear power station in the United Kingdom and one of the first generation of nuclear reactors in Britain. It had two Magnox reactors and was one of four stations located close to the mouth of the River Severn and the Bristol Channel. Laing were the civil engineers for the project with work commencing on 7th January 1957. The nuclear power station came into service in 1962 but has since been decommissioned following its closure in 1989

© Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection