Site Being Cleared For 1951 London Exhibition

Waikato Independent, Volume XLV, Issue 6231, 27 April 1949, Page 3

Site Being Cleared For 1951 London Exhibition

London’s South Bank, site of the 1951 Exhibition, is becoming a scene of tremendous activity as the London County Pouncil’s £2,000,000 development plan gets under way., according to the Over seas Mail, Demolition work is being carried out at top speed —7 men with cranes, bulldozers and other equipment are tackling the job. Turban Wharf has been demolished, and workmen are on the last stages of India Wharf. Their next job will be tire old brewery from which the Red Lion will be brought down in sections and stored. A start has been made on constructing the new river wall and reclaiming four acres of land from the Thames. Within the next few ’weeks also Mr R. H. Matthey, London County Council architect, will produce his plans for the Concert Hall, in addition to which there will be a small one, and room for chamber music, as well as offices. The biggest and most spectacular job this year will be,on the river wall, for which a tender for £50,000 has been accepted. A coffer dam is being sunk into the Thames mud to hold back the water while concrete is pumped inside. The new section, 1700 feet long, will then be faced with granite now being hewn from six quarries in Cornwall. Each piece, numbered and cut to fit its neighbour, will be brought by ship from Falmouth up the Thames to the site. The target for completing the wall is the end of 1950, but six months earlier the 1951 organisation will start erecting their temporary exhibition buildings. When the land behind the new wall has been drained soil from Clapliam Common will be laid down for planting trees and shrubs. 7