Film and photographic archives

The John Laing photographic and film archives represent a significant historical record of development in the UK during the 20^th century. They are cared for in partnership with Historic England (HE) and The British Film Institute respectively.

1962 Sir John outside the completed Coventry Cathedral. He refused to accept any profit for building places of worship and this was one of the biggest projects of the day. At the same time, the Company was building the world’s first full scale nuclear Power Station at Berkeley. The two projects were referred to in the press at the time as: The Power and the Glory.

1968 Filton airfield runway being elongated to cope with Concorde. No one knew how much space would be needed to land the world’s first supersonic passenger aircraft. Laing engineers upgraded the long runway at Filton originally built by the Company for giant Brabazon transport planes in the 1950s.

John Laing photographic Collection

The John Laing photographic collection contains 238,000 images dating back to the 1890s.

These are kept in temperature controlled storage facility by HE to preserve the acetates, transparencies and photographs which make up the collection.

Through the Breaking New Ground (BNG) initiative, 11,000 of these images have been preserved digitally and made available online through Historic England.

The collection is considered to be a significant historical photographic record of the UK through the prism of construction. This period saw the introduction of new construction techniques but also the rebuilding of Britain after World War II. It also encompasses the introduction of the motorway era and nuclear power stations – the first full scale versions of which were built by John Laing.

The company was involved in building two new towns 50 years apart at Gretna and Milton Keynes, plus many other iconic projects including Clifton and Coventry cathedrals.

Visit the John Laing Historic England Archive

John Laing Film Collection

There is a collection of around 50 Laing films. These date back to 1929 with a film called The Laing Batalion, which features a regiment of the Royal Engineers in which 76% of the men worked withy Laings in south London.

The Company was a big believer in innovation and with the growth of film making in the 1950s, they saw it as the perfect marketing tool. Consequently, many of the most important construction projects of the 20^th century have been captured and recorded for posterity.

The films are held and looked after by The British Film Institute (BFI), which has rendered about 30 of them to DVD. Others have been digitised and can be viewed for free through the BFI website. You can search for them here. Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute

These include The Spelga Dam in northern Ireland – which is among the most viewed films on the playing platform.

The collection also includes films taken by Sir John himself during missionary work in India and Africa. Very few people were filming these parts of the world on high quality equipment during that period and some of his films provide a rare record of what everyday life was like in those parts of the world at that time.

The Trust often receives request to use footage. These are allowed for educational and some artistic purposes at the discretion of the Trustees. All management of licensing is handled by the BFI.

Coventry Cathedral Film

M1 Film