BANK OF ENGLAND VAULTS

Manawatu Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 4600, 23 January 1936, Page 1

BANK OF ENGLAND VAULTS

STOREHOUSE OF GOLD.. iSixty feet below the level of the busiest streets of the city of London are the- world’s safest strong rooms. They house, or will house, all the gold of the Bank of England —more than £150,000,000. iVaults which have cost £6,000,-, 000 can be. flooded for security against invasion, fire, riot or bombardment. And two men hold the secrets of these vaults. They alone hold the only two electrical switch keys which operate the flood gates that surround the vaults.

The work has been proceeding steadily for 10 years; it will be nearly five more years before it is finished.- It is the biggest, most secret and most expensive operation ever undertaken in the city of London. More than £20,000,000 is being'spent on this work to convert the building in Threadneedle Street into the world’s safest bullion fort.

An average of 750 picked workmen are continuously working. Each one has instructions to carry on steadily. There are no time schedules. Time is no object. No hammer blows must be heard during the daytime. Noisy work begins at 7 p.m. and ceases at 7 a.m. The Bank of England will be the first important building in London with all welded steel girders. This part of the contract will cost £130,000. Dr. Oscar Faber., the bank’s consulting engineer, has chosen this system of framework because it has greater rigidity and eliminates deafening noise that would be caused by riveting. Each welder, when this system was adopted* had to submit samples of his work, which were subjected to severe destruction tests before work was allowed to start.

Twice a day, at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., workmen are admitted to the bank premises and subjected to a roll-call and scrutiny, carried out by bank officials. Then they are conducted to their working places in different parts of the building. Once inside, no night shift man can leave until the day shift comes in, 12 hours later. Every workman is warned to keep to his work and not to wander about. Additional material cannot be obtained without the consent, of the general foreman. He is the oniy one, other than the bank officials and guards, who knows the countersign. And this is changed every evening. . Only one hour is allowed for bringing in all necessary equipment for the night’s' work. It is impossible to leave the building during this time because prearranged code locks, which open at set times, control the main gates of the bank.

Throughput the night the premises are guarded by firemen, watchmen, soldiers and plain-clothed detectives, whose duties are arranged so as to create a continual guard, and the roof is patrolled by armed guards from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. throughout the year.

“The reason for all this precaution is not so much a matter of seerecy as one of discretion,” said an official. “We have to be careful.” This carefulness is extended even to the bank’s directors. Access to the vaults of concrete and armour plating- cannot be gained by one director alone. Two must be present with their keys and codes before the massive-steel doors, can be opened. The vaults, three floors below street level, range in size up to 20 feet by 15 feet. They have reinforced concrete walls, 2ft. thick, with armour plating surrounding the inner walls and ceilings. They are surrounded by the waters of the subterranean river. They have been likened to an ice-berg—more concealed than meets the eye, and surrounded by water. The great steel doors, weighing many tons, are closed electrically and seal the safes against air and water. The bank is almost selfsupporting for all its water and electricity needs. During the next four or five years the bank’s superstructure will have taken shape. Walking through parts of it to-day is like walking through long wooden tunnels.