0:00:35 > 0:00:38This is my place of work here in my back garden.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Everything's powered by steam.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44So I've always been in need of a decent chimney.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46I managed to build one recently,
0:00:46 > 0:00:51so I'm having a little topping out ceremony with my wife.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54- There, my dear.- Thanks very much.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56MARCHING TUNE ON GRAMOPHONE
0:00:58 > 0:01:00You always had a grand party
0:01:00 > 0:01:03on top with a brass band.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07This is t'best we can do with a gramophone and champagne.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10It's a bit sad, really, because
0:01:10 > 0:01:13I've knocked lots of these things down
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and this is the last to be built in Bolton.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Hopefully, you know.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21- Good health.- Cheers.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24May it have many years of happy smoking!
0:01:24 > 0:01:26My back garden must be the only place
0:01:26 > 0:01:30left in Bolton that needs a chimney like this.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34When I was a lad the whole place was full of factories,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36providing work for hundreds of people.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40In the past we didn't make things in factories
0:01:40 > 0:01:43and we didn't have industrial towns.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45We used to be an agricultural society.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48And what was made was made at home.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53Most of our earliest surviving places of work were agricultural buildings
0:01:53 > 0:01:58like this 1,000-year-old tithe barn at Falmer, near Brighton,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01which is being restored as a Millennium project.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15The techniques thatchers use
0:02:15 > 0:02:18were developed over 2,000 years ago
0:02:18 > 0:02:21so I was able to have a look at one of
0:02:21 > 0:02:24our most traditional building crafts.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30Some of these barns are amongst the largest surviving buildings from the Middle Ages.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34There can't be many bigger thatching jobs than this.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41John Harman is the master thatcher in charge of the project.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43He showed me how to go about it.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45- Now then, John.- How are you?
0:02:45 > 0:02:50There's no roofs like this where I come from. They're made of slate.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53What stops the rain coming in, you know?
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Cos there's no underfelt, is there?
0:02:56 > 0:02:59It's the angle of the way the straw lays on the roof.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02We have a thickness of two foot.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06- So we've got an undercoat and we've got a topcoat.- Yeah.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08If it goes through the topcoat, it's OK.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11What stops it all slurring off?
0:03:11 > 0:03:16It's sparred on to the basecoat with hazel spars, like a wooden staple.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18They did this in Roman times.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20That's right. Before that.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24- Almost the same, eh? - Back to the Iron Age, really.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Are you going to show me how to do a bit?
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Yeah, sure.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Wait a minute. I'll do it... I'll do it proper.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34How's that?
0:03:43 > 0:03:47I'm only an apprentice, so...
0:03:47 > 0:03:49I don't want too much.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Take a little bond of straw.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54- Pull a bond. Put that across this way.- Yeah.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58I'll have a do at fixing one of them on.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04It turned round a bit.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Keep 'em going uphill when you put 'em on.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Yeah. Yeah.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13How many thatchers
0:04:13 > 0:04:15are left now in England?
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Too many. FRED LAUGHS
0:04:18 > 0:04:21When people ask about steeplejacking, they say that.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23"He must be t'only one."
0:04:23 > 0:04:29- And there's bloody hundreds of 'em! - There's about 1,500 altogether.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Oh, aye. A fair bit of stiff competition.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36There can't be many thatched roofs this big. It's like a cathedral.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39There's not many tithe barns about.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41I've never seen
0:04:41 > 0:04:43a thatched roof this big.
0:04:43 > 0:04:4550 tons of straw we've put on.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Tithe barns like this were used to store the produce
0:05:00 > 0:05:02that was paid as a tithe or tax
0:05:02 > 0:05:06towards the upkeep of the local priest.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09The Church was important in medieval society.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13A lot of early work places had religious connections
0:05:13 > 0:05:15like this ancient hospital.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21In the Middle Ages, the monks did charitable work.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24This included looking after the poor
0:05:24 > 0:05:27and the sick, and the places they set up to do it
0:05:27 > 0:05:30were really our very earliest hospitals.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34St Cross Hospital is in Winchester.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38It's not a hospital with an accident and emergency department
0:05:38 > 0:05:43or a maternity unit, so you won't see any doctors or nurses here.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49What we have here today is Britain's oldest existing charitable institution.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55It was founded in 1132 for the benefit of 13 poor men.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59It was more like an almshouse than hospitals we have now.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03And today it still acts as sheltered accommodation
0:06:03 > 0:06:05for 25 elderly men.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10This is the church of the hospital of St Cross
0:06:10 > 0:06:13and building started in 1135.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17It's so old, when it were first built, it had a thatched roof.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21Sometime in the 14th century it acquired a lead one.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Round the side, they're taking part of it off, so we can see
0:06:25 > 0:06:29how the Normans put a roof on a church like this one.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34'Stuart Moore is the conservation builder who is doing the work.'
0:06:34 > 0:06:39When the building was constructed, it would have had a thatched roof.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43The line on the wall here is the original weathering,
0:06:43 > 0:06:45sort of flashing to the thatch.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Obviously that's been cut off at a later date.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Really, the whole weight of the roof
0:06:51 > 0:06:55is taken on these two great balks of oak, in't it,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59with the, you know, the...purlin or the spar resting here
0:06:59 > 0:07:01and then this prop on the back?
0:07:01 > 0:07:06Yes. I mean, it's a fairly common situation on a bigger building.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Just back from you you can see there's a tie,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12a piece of timber passing between the two.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14It stops them rolling apart.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Yeah. I see there's a few extra mortise holes
0:07:17 > 0:07:20that didn't seem to get used.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Yeah, I mean, we have a theory
0:07:22 > 0:07:27the original carpenter would probably have marked it out at ground level.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31He knew where the rafters were and where the posts went.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33But he hadn't realised
0:07:33 > 0:07:35the vaulting is in the way.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39With a lot of the lead stripped off the roof, you can see how
0:07:39 > 0:07:43they constructed the lovely vaulting in the church.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47The vaulting here is rough, but inside it's lovely.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52Oh, yes. I mean, this line here that you can see - these stones -
0:07:52 > 0:07:55shows us how thick the vaulting is. You'll see that this
0:07:55 > 0:07:59is right at the top of the piece you can see.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00So this is all...
0:08:00 > 0:08:03About 14 or 15 inches thick.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Yes. The vaulting is basically an arch.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09And an arch only works if it's got a weight on it.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12So all this has just been put on top to add strength.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15When you think they had no cement mixers,
0:08:15 > 0:08:21there must have been armies of blokes mixing mortar to keep the wall from going.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25We're 60ft up so it's all been carried up here.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27The Normans were great builders.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30They constructed churches and castles
0:08:30 > 0:08:33on a vast scale.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36For many, the building site was their work place.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40But how did they build such huge places
0:08:40 > 0:08:42all that time ago?
0:08:42 > 0:08:45And how did they manage to lift massive lumps of stone
0:08:45 > 0:08:48to such a great height?
0:08:49 > 0:08:52These little holes that I'm chiselling in here
0:08:52 > 0:08:55are going to enable me to put the dogs in,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58which is an interesting clamping device.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02We'll see it in a bit so that I can lift up the stone
0:09:02 > 0:09:08and lower it down with, you know, with ease on... wherever I want it.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Right.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23Really, you can see my bricks are nine inches long and four and a half inches wide,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25The thing is
0:09:25 > 0:09:27you can pick it up with one hand.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32But the old timers didn't have bricks back in the Middle Ages.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35They did, but they'd just started making 'em.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Most of the building material was stone.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42The bigger the lump, the less you could play with it.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47And so two men even lifting that and placing it carefully
0:09:47 > 0:09:51on top of another two stones, it would be difficult.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53There'd be blue fingernails.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55So they invented these things
0:09:55 > 0:10:00which is... a weird-looking piece of equipment,
0:10:00 > 0:10:06but...very handy...when it comes to lifting up big stones.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Them holes are so...
0:10:13 > 0:10:16so small and yet you've got like...
0:10:16 > 0:10:22perfect control over the...the piece of stone.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Yeah.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32When it was at the top, of course,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35they wouldn't have any chain blocks.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39It would be all pulleys and made of wood, I suppose,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42with a small amount of iron involved like the axle.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44They had no tower cranes.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48It'd be the gallows bracket which would bring it up
0:10:48 > 0:10:50and there'd be maybe a few blokes
0:10:50 > 0:10:52on rope, holding it off the wall.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57At the full thickness of t'wall, they'd let it swing in over the top.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01If you really study
0:11:01 > 0:11:05architecture and buildings,...
0:11:05 > 0:11:09you can see evidence... of these holes.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11I don't know, I mean...
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Imagine that now with the mortar underneath.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Then all you've got to do is give it a little tap in t'right place
0:11:19 > 0:11:22and...the job's a good one.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28In the Middle Ages cloth were one of our most important trades
0:11:28 > 0:11:33and Lacock was an important manufacturing and trading centre,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37found on the old main road between London and Bristol.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42By the 14th century most villagers of Lacock earned their living by weaving
0:11:42 > 0:11:47and the products became quite famous and were sold far and wide
0:11:47 > 0:11:49and even exported from Bristol.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53In the 15th century wide looms were introduced
0:11:53 > 0:11:58and, of course, many houses had a wider first floor
0:11:58 > 0:12:00to accommodate the extra size.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03The first storey of this house
0:12:03 > 0:12:05once contained a hand loom.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09In the Middle Ages they could only use the local materials.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14Of course, everything was made of wood, thatch, plaster and sticks.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Slates and tiles
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and bricks came much later.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25Stone can be used more or less straight out of the ground or the quarry.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29And this is an example of like random-rubble-type building.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Plenty of mortar and bits of stone
0:12:32 > 0:12:35and stone dressings round the windows and doors.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38But next door they've spent a bob or two
0:12:38 > 0:12:42engaging the services of a reasonable stonemason
0:12:42 > 0:12:45who's squared the stone and cut it to shape.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48And a great saving on mortar for a start.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53But quite nice. The joints are only about one-sixteenth of an inch thick.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56And at the top there's a beautiful freeze
0:12:56 > 0:13:00that looks like it may have come from somewhere else.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03But they're still lovely to look at.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Trade in the textiles that were made here
0:13:09 > 0:13:11turned Lacock into a wealthy place.
0:13:11 > 0:13:17But as an island, much of our trade has had to be carried out by sea.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19So shipyards
0:13:19 > 0:13:22became some of our busiest work places.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28From the southwest I went to Chatham in Kent to see one of our oldest.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Shipbuilding's always been one of our greatest industries.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38At this historic dockyard at Chatham
0:13:38 > 0:13:41is the world's most complete naval shipyard,
0:13:41 > 0:13:46dating from Georgian and early Victorian times.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51The dockyard is now a naval museum.
0:13:51 > 0:13:57But you can still see nearly all of the 18th and 19th century docks and buildings.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18Hundreds of people from over 26 trades were employed here,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20all working
0:14:20 > 0:14:23to produce one single object - the warship.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Together with the dry docks,
0:14:25 > 0:14:30the covered slips formed the industrial heart of the dockyard.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34This end slipway - the wooden one -
0:14:34 > 0:14:37which, of course, is the oldest of all of 'em,
0:14:37 > 0:14:41is a magnificent piece of carpentry on a grand scale.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43The timber in it is unbelievable.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46It's as big as two football pitches.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51This must be the biggest shed in all of England.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54The reason for its great size is, you know,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57they needed it to build ships under cover, you know,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00in the 18th and early 19th century.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02It sort of...
0:15:02 > 0:15:05It's a magnificent piece of woodwork. The trusses
0:15:05 > 0:15:07are a work of art.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12I don't think I've ever, ever, ever been in anywhere made of wood
0:15:12 > 0:15:14as grand and big as this, you know.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16The most beautiful...
0:15:20 > 0:15:22Eh...
0:15:22 > 0:15:27It makes you wonder how they got those great roof trusses up like that.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29When you think, they must have made 'em
0:15:29 > 0:15:32down on t'floor, flat.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36Then they pulled them up the verticals with guy ropes on
0:15:36 > 0:15:39to keep 'em in t'vertical position.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42And then when they got two or three up,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44put the timber across under the windows,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48which would give it stability as well as the guy ropes.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Then crash the bolts through.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Definitely.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Yeah. Some piece of woodwork.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58The round end is magnificent. It's like a big fan.
0:16:02 > 0:16:09In the 18th century, the Royal Dockyards was the biggest manufacturing site in the world.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15But with the coming of the Industrial Revolution
0:16:15 > 0:16:18factories began to appear all over Britain.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries we led the world
0:16:22 > 0:16:27in using the power of coal, water and steam to drive
0:16:27 > 0:16:30the machinery that made mass production possible.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33And with this came the need
0:16:33 > 0:16:38for a new type of building, so our first mills and factories were built.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43To see one of the earliest I went back up north.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49Armley Mills in Leeds was built at the beginning of the 19th century.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55- This wonderful canal wends its way all the way from Liverpool.- It does.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58How many miles further up does it go into Leeds?
0:16:58 > 0:17:01About two miles into the centre of Leeds.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06It would bring raw materials for the industries of West Riding,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08from the Liverpool docks.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12It touched, really, every industrial town all the way.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16I suppose that's why it's like a snake, in't it?
0:17:16 > 0:17:20- It goes everywhere all over t'show. - It is, yes.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23When it came, it catered for this place.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27There's been mills here from at least the 16th century,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30possibly before, long before the canal came.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Riven by, of course, the river.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35The river and the shape of the river
0:17:35 > 0:17:39was the reason why Armley Mills is here.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43- Driven by water and the water came from the river.- Yeah.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48This is where the water disappears under the mill to the water wheels.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Mill buildings were designed to house a big workforce
0:17:52 > 0:17:54and lots of machinery.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56They also had to be fireproof
0:17:56 > 0:17:59because the materials that were being made
0:17:59 > 0:18:01were highly inflammable.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09The most interesting thing that you can see here is the construction.
0:18:09 > 0:18:15Originally they were timber floors which was where the trouble was with fire.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17So they made floors out of stone flags.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20They supported them on brick arches
0:18:20 > 0:18:22which you can see there.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28They were carried on the iron beams and the beams were supported by the iron columns.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32So it's all material that wouldn't burn.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40By the middle of the 19th century
0:18:40 > 0:18:44we were building some pretty impressive spinning mills.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48This, behind me, is India Mill in Darwen near Blackburn.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51It were built somewhere about 1875.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56This must be one of the finest chimney stacks in all of Great Britain.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59The Victorians, when they did things,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02not only have they got to be functional,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05they've got to look good. I once had the pleasure
0:19:05 > 0:19:09of laddering this chimney, you know, for an inspection.
0:19:09 > 0:19:15It looks impressive from down here, but up there, the size of some of them rocks
0:19:15 > 0:19:19they must weigh five or six tons each, some of 'em.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21They're so big.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25It would be built from the inside off a platform in the middle.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29As the walls went up, the platform would be moved at 6ft centres
0:19:29 > 0:19:31up the middle.
0:19:31 > 0:19:37They're great stones. They no doubt have a steam engine or winch to pull 'em up.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41The biggest overhang is 5ft from the face of the brickwork.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44You've got to go out backwards 5ft
0:19:44 > 0:19:47to get round the corner of the biggest overhang.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Here we are. My word!
0:20:02 > 0:20:05You can ride a bike round here.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11It's so sad that places like this were still working
0:20:11 > 0:20:14in our lifetimes, but, alas, they've all gone now.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Factories brought lots of people into the new industrial towns
0:20:21 > 0:20:26where fresh food wasn't as available as it had been in the country,
0:20:26 > 0:20:29so shops began to appear
0:20:29 > 0:20:32to cater for the needs of the workers.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35The first co-operative store was a grocers,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37opened in Rochdale in 1844.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40But by the early 20th century
0:20:40 > 0:20:44the Co-op was selling everything from food to furniture.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46To see one from this time
0:20:46 > 0:20:50I went to the North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54I remember as a kid going in the Co-op with my mum.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56It were a room similar to this.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00And the architecture and everything was so superior, you know.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04They had their own architects and their own builders.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08And they're all, if you look around, on t'same pattern.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Like in Lancashire, in a poor mill neighbourhood,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16there were always this beautiful building - the Co-op.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20It had beautiful stone dressings or terracotta,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23always a beautiful plaque - Farnworth and Kearsley
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Co-operative Society,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Bolton Co-operative, Rochdale,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Ramsbottom Co-operative Society.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34You can't help but notice as well in here
0:21:34 > 0:21:37that all the packaging will all rot away.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40You know,... not like the modern days, you know,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44where everything lasts for ever when you throw it away.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48What are you doing, dear? Is this a Nescafe machine?
0:21:48 > 0:21:51That's right. Just grinding some coffee.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53Two and seven, eh?
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Blooming 'eck.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59I've got some beautiful scales at home just like these.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02They must be the same maker in every detail.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07When my uncle died with his temperance bar, my auntie give 'em me.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10We've got 'em on top of the telly now at home.
0:22:13 > 0:22:20Now then, Malcolm. I know what you're doing, but these lot at t'other end of here don't.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24I'm going to send the money by using a system which will take the ball
0:22:24 > 0:22:28- and lift it up onto the track. - Yeah.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31It will then be forced down by gravity.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37It runs into the cash office. Now that system will then quicken up
0:22:37 > 0:22:42the method of...recording everyone's purchase
0:22:42 > 0:22:47and make it easier working out the dividend at the end of the quarter.
0:22:47 > 0:22:53There were a similar contraption in the Co-op in Bolton when I were a little lad,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57but it worked off either a vacuum or compressed air.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59It did exactly t'same thing.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02It made life easier for the guy behind the counter.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Shopping must have been a pleasure
0:23:05 > 0:23:09especially if you went to a place as beautiful and ornate as this.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12Leadenhall Market in London.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15It's a wonderful example of the great lengths
0:23:15 > 0:23:17the Victorians went to to make
0:23:17 > 0:23:21even the most ordinary places good to look at.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Whatever was built, they used ornamentation
0:23:24 > 0:23:27with no other purpose than to please the eye.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31The whole place is an iron founder's dream, you know.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34All the beautiful columns and ornamental corbels
0:23:34 > 0:23:37and the flowery bits will be hollow.
0:23:37 > 0:23:43Inside, where nobody can see, there'll be big rectangular-shaped holes.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Joining the ends are lots of nut and bolt holes.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49It will be held together by nuts and bolts.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56Quite a wonderful thing, really,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58when you think about it.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01All these lovely wrought iron bars
0:24:01 > 0:24:05would once have had sides of beef hanging down and that.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09It must have been an interesting place, I think.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14Right next door, we have the modern face of the work place.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16This is the Lloyds Insurance Building.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19It shows how much construction techniques
0:24:19 > 0:24:23have changed. There's not many people
0:24:23 > 0:24:27who work in such a futuristic building as this just yet.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31But is this the shape of the work place of the future?
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Lloyds have a long association with the sea.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37They started off insuring ships.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40As they moved with the times, so did their office.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43This here thing behind me is Lloyds HQ
0:24:43 > 0:24:45here in London.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49The only criticism I have about this wonderful thing here
0:24:49 > 0:24:54is the fact that all its innards are on the outside, all the services
0:24:54 > 0:25:00and they look rather fragile and a bit vulnerable to the atmosphere and the weather.
0:25:00 > 0:25:06But I've noticed on every corner there's a tower crane permanently fixed there
0:25:06 > 0:25:12so, in a way, it could be a lot easier for the maintenance of the pipes
0:25:12 > 0:25:16than being under floors and up cavities inside.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19There all fairly easily accessible.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25We demolished the 1928 building to make room for this one.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28But we kept this in store and this didn't go...
0:25:28 > 0:25:31'Richard Keene of Lloyds showed me round.'
0:25:31 > 0:25:33I must say
0:25:33 > 0:25:36I'm impressed with the magnitude of it all.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39This, Fred, is the underwriting room.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42It's known colloquially as The Room.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47If you ask anyone in the City where The Room is, they'll send you here.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51You know, from what you see, Lloyds is very much a marketplace.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55We made the decision that we needed a new home.
0:25:55 > 0:26:01One of the prime requirements was that we needed as much working space
0:26:01 > 0:26:06as possible, and Richard Rogers the architect has provided us
0:26:06 > 0:26:08- with just that. - He has indeed.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10A great amount of space you've got.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15There's only the concrete pillars and then it's the outer skin.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19- That's right. - With the other pillars on the outside,
0:26:19 > 0:26:24which gives you a ginormous working area or the floor, as you might say.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28This magnificent staircase that goes up,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30it's like James Bond, in't it?
0:26:30 > 0:26:32JAMES BOND STYLE FLOURISH
0:26:36 > 0:26:39On this level, we have all the directors
0:26:39 > 0:26:43of the Corporation of Lloyds, who have offices here.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48And I thought I might show you something a little bit different.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50So if you'd like to come in here.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Wow!
0:26:54 > 0:26:57This is something of a contrast.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59This is a genuine Robert Adam
0:26:59 > 0:27:01dining room.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06It's here because we found that part of Bowood House in Wiltshire,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09owned by the Marquis of Lansdowne,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11was being demolished with this room.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15So Lloyds collectively purchased the room.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18And the whole room was cut into sections,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21bought to the City, but here it's back to...
0:27:21 > 0:27:25- The original Robert Adam design. - That's right.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27That cornice moulding there.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32At the end of my kitchen I've got some almost exactly t'same.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37The only difference is the lamb's tongue bit at the top is plain on mine.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42But that's a bit bigger than what mine is at home. Yeah.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44I didn't know Adam designed kitchens.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47He had nowt to do with it.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51It's just the plaster. You can buy anything nowadays in shops.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Well, Richard, after seeing that lot in there,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58I think I'll nip over and see the chairman
0:27:58 > 0:28:02about giving me a reduction on my steeplejacking premiums!
0:28:22 > 0:28:27Subtitles by Sean Sutton, ITFC, for BBC Subtitling - 2000