Holloway Brothers (London) Ltd was a leading English construction company specialising in building and heavy civil engineering work based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

History

Early history

The company was founded as a

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

in 1882 by two brothers, Henry Thomas Holloway and Henry Holloway, at Queen's Road in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batt ...

; this was a consequence of their elder brother James refusing to take them into partnership. In 1889, on the death of James, they took on the business and obligations of the building and construction firm founded by him in 1875 and then based in Marmion Road Lavender Hill. This reunited their father Thomas, and surviving brothers, John and Samuel, in a single family firm. James had already obtained significant contracts for buildings including Battersea Library and Public Baths and the completion of these gave the firm an important boost leading to the winning of major public contracts including Chatham Naval Barracks (1897–1902).

Key dates from 1900

1899 move to Victoria Wharf, Belvedere Road

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. 1901 creation of the 'Steel Office' under the structural engineer T Aubrey Watson.Rolt, p. xii 1902 becomes

private limited company A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the ''LLC'' in the United St ...

. Opens a branch at 43 South Audley St

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...

(still trading as Holloway White Allom) to undertake high quality decoration and maintenance work. 1905 licenses the Hennebique system of reinforced concrete construction from L G Mouchel. This led to a rapid expansion of the company's civil engineering work and the winning of contracts for major projects such as the General Post Office building (1907). 1912 company reorganisation. Holloway Brothers (London) Limited created to undertake the construction activities of the firm with the original company renamed as Holloways Properties Limited. 1915 move to Bridge Wharf (later 157)

Millbank Millbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Millbank is located by the River Thames, east of Pimlico and south of Westminster. Millbank is known as the location of major government offices, Burberry headquarters, the ...

on compulsory purchase of Victoria Wharf by the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...

as the site for the new County Hall. Joinery works move to Magdalen Rd Earlsfield, stonemasonry to Thessaly Rd

Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies on the River Thames, with Battersea to the west, South Lambeth to the south and Vauxhall to the east. The area was formerly mainly industrial ...

. 1917

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

branch opened (closed 1932, reopened 1954). 1934 recruits technical staff from the defunct London office of the bridge department of Dorman, Long of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

. This enabled the company to take on steel bridge construction to complement their expertise in reinforced concrete bridges. 1942 expands into open cast mining.

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

office opened. 1946 acquires interest in Dene quarry at

Cromford Cromford is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, in the valley of the River Derwent between Wirksworth and Matlock. It is north of Derby, south of Matlock and south of Matlock Bath. It is first mentioned in the 11th-centur ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

which then traded as Dene Quarries (Derbyshire) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary. 1957 forms association with John Laing & Son whilst remaining an independent company. 1960 acquires White Allom Limited, a business led by Sir Charles White Allom, antiques advisor and interior decorator to King George V and Queen Mary. 1964 acquired by John Laing & Son. 1968 Holloway White Allom begins to trade as separate subsidiary. 2002

Management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena o ...

of Holloway White Allom. 2011 Holloway White Allom placed in administration and is closed.

Family involvement

Holloways remained a family firm through several generations. The original brothers were sons of Thomas and Elizabeth Holloway, of West Lavington, Wiltshire where Thomas was a local jobbing builder and bricklayer. They had five sons, James (1851–89), Henry Thomas (1853–1914), John (1854–1932), Henry (1857–1923), and Samuel (1862–1938). Thomas moved to London to work with his eldest son James in 1868, and the rest of the family followed in 1870. James and Thomas became bricklayers and then general foremen, James at only about 18 and Thomas at 21, John was apprenticed as a carpenter, whilst in due course Henry joined a firm of timber merchants and Samuel began work in a solicitor's office. James set up his own business with a few hundred pounds in capital in 1875 and by the following year had new premises at Marmion Rd Lavender Hill and his father and other brothers joined the firm. Henry became office manager, Thomas outside manager, John worked as a carpenter and Samuel apprenticed as a joiner. Initially the firm concentrated on speculative house building in Clapham but rapidly expanded to take on larger contracts such as churches, schools, public libraries and baths. The split seems to have come because James refused to take his brothers Thomas and Henry into partnership, leading to their setting up an independent firm in 1882, but the family links ensured a fairly seamless amalgamation of the businesses on the death of James in 1889. Samuel Holloway joined Thomas and Henry as director of the company on its incorporation in 1902, and only one director, Courthauld Thompson, was drawn from outside the company. That situation did not change on the company reorganisation in 1912, because although Thomas Holloway was joined as director by his sons Henry T and Ernest C, and Henry by sons Roland and Herbert (Dick), the only other director was Charles Byworth, the original company secretary. It was after the death of the founding Thomas in 1914 that WH Stacey and GF Palmer, recruited from John Aird & Co in 1912 and 1915, slightly diluted the family's control when they joined the board in 1917. On Sir Henry's death in 1923 chairmanship passed to Samuel, the sole surviving member of the founding generation who remained with the firm. Six members of the following generation then worked for the firm - Henry T, Ernest, Roland, Herbert, and Harold and Rupert, sons of Samuel. Henry T replaced Samuel as chairman on his retirement in 1933. Stacey and Palmer both died in 1933 and were succeeded as non-family directors in 1934 by William Storey Wilson, who had joined from Dorman Long in 1934. Rupert and Harold became directors in 1936. Henry Thomas Holloway was President of the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors 1940-46 and knighted for his wartime services in 1945. He remained chairman until his death in 1951. Family control was retained in the 1950s. Four grandsons of the original founders were on the board by the beginning of the decade and one, Peter, succeeded Sir Henry as chairman and managing director. Nor was family control merely nominal; even at this period they retained the tradition that family members should start at the bottom and learn the trade before moving up to senior management.

Notable Projects

Buildings

The company built many notable buildings of which a good number survive today. These included ones designed by architects EW Mountford, Sir Reginald Blomfeld,

Sir Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He ...

, Sir Edwin Lutyens,

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (9 November 1880 – 8 February 1960) was a British architect known for his work on the New Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Battersea Power Station, Liverpool Cathedral, and ...

, Sir Edward Maufe and

Sir Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

. The list below is far from comprehensive. 1889-90 Battersea public library and baths 1891-4 Battersea Polytechnic 1893-4

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

Pumping House. In the style of the day, built with domed and turreted neo-Byzantine pumping house and tall brick chimney stack in the form of a campanile. 1897-1902 Chatham Royal Naval Barracks 1897- Admiralty Building, Horse Guards Parade 1899-1900 Millais Building (flats)

Rolt, p. 32 1900-7 Central Criminal Court (

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

) 1901-3 London Wall office development 1904-05 Hanover House flats

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

1904-9 Gorringes department store, Buckingham Palace Rd

1905

Rushton Hall Rushton Hall in Rushton, Northamptonshire, England, was the ancestral home of the Tresham family from 1438, when William Tresham, a veteran of the Battle of Agincourt and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster bought the estate. In the 20th cen ...

, Northamptonshire, completely restored after fire. 1905-6 United University Club, Pall Mall

1907-10 General Post Office (King Edward's Building), Giltspur St London. The first large reinforced concrete building in London. 1908- Caxton House, Tothill St

1910-1911 Whiteleys department store, Queensway Bayswater An example of a steel framed building which could be built much more cheaply and quickly than the traditional masonry construction used at Gorringes, demonstrating the revolution in building techniques at this period. 1912-17 Government Buildings, Storey's Gate

1914-15 Waldershare Park

Tilmanstone Tilmanstone is a small village and civil parish in Kent, in the South East of England, near Eastry, a much bigger and more developed area. Tilmanstone no longer has a village school; however, the independent Northbourne Park School is close to t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, completely restored after fire. 1922-31 Westminster Bank, 51-52 Threadneedle St London 1924-5 County Fire Office, Piccadilly Circus 1924-7 Courtauld Building, 16 St Martin's-le-Grand 1924-42

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

Threadneedle St London. Only the earlier screen wall (c1800) by John Soane survives on the south and west sides and that had to be underpinned. The project took so long because of its scale (much of it is underground) and the bank continued in operation on site during the work. Holloways was seen as well suited to contracts of this nature both because of its expertise in civil engineering and because as an integrated company it had its own stonemasonry, joinery and decorating divisions with a demonstrated ability to carry out work to the highest craft standards. 1928-33 Glyn Mills and Martin's Bank buildings in Lombard Street 1929-32 Princess Beatrice Hospital Earls Court 1933 Empire Swimming Pool, Wembley now incorporated in

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500- ...

1933 Members' Stand at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England ...

1933- Cumberland Hotel Marble Arch 1934 Peckham Health Centre. An innovative architectural and public health project. 1935-7 Kingston House Kensington Rd London SW7 1936-9

Westminster Hospital Westminster Hospital was a hospital in London, England, founded in 1719. In 1834 a medical school attached to the hospital was formally founded. In 1939 a newly built hospital and medical school opened in Horseferry Road, Westminster. In 1994 th ...

Marsham Street. 193(1)-39 Duveen gallery

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and North Library reconstruction (date of latter unclear) 1938-40 Roche Products Factory, Broadwater Rd

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

1950- Serjeant's Inn rebuilding,

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was n ...

Post-war Holloways were responsible for large scale flat and domestic housing developments e.g. at Crawley New Town and Draycott Avenue Chelsea, Henry Dicken's Court Kensington and the Pimlico housing scheme (1st four blocks).

Civil engineering

With the acquisition of expertise in steel framing and reinforced concrete at the beginning of the 20th century civil engineering became an important aspect of the company's operations. 1906 covered reservoir at Hart Lane

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

, the company's first reinforced concrete project. 1907-12 new jetty at Western Dock, widening and deepening of Tobacco Dock, at London Docks 1907-13 sea defence works at

Roedean Roedean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, England, UK, east of the seaside resort of Brighton. Notable buildings and areas Roedean Gap is a slight dip in the cliffs between Black Rock and Ovingdean Gap, and has been known by the ...

, Rottingdean and

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to the Census, there was a populati ...

1914 power station for the Euston-Watford rail electrification scheme, leading to involvement in many rail infrastructure projects subsequently. 1920 500 ft graving dock and deep water quay at Seaton Snook, River Tees, and similar works in the 1920s and 1930s on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, at

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

Seahouses Seahouses is a large village on the North Northumberland coast in England. It is about north of Alnwick, within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Attraction Seahouses attracts many visitors, mainly from the north ea ...

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sou ...

and

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Ty ...

1935

Morgan Crucible Morgan Advanced Materials is a company which manufactures specialist products, using carbon, advanced ceramics and composites. The company is headquartered in Windsor, United Kingdom, and has 85 sites across 30 countries. A public limited comp ...

chimney,

. The chimney was 279 feet high and is of interest because it was necessary for the consulting engineers to develop a new form of shuttering to make moving form construction possible. The chimney tapered from a diameter of 13 feet, 11 inches at the base to 9 feet 3 inches at the top, and the wall thickness reduced from 15 inches to 6 inches. The upper 266 feet took 44 days to build. 1937 Littlebrook A power station, Dartford. 1940 oil discharging jetty at Avonmouth 1945- Catalagzi power Station, Turkey. The contract had been let in 1940 but construction was delayed by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

1946-52 Bagdhad Railway Station 1947 new deep water quay and Millennium flour mill at

Royal Victoria Dock The Royal Victoria Dock is the largest of three docks in the Royal Docks of east London, now part of the redeveloped Docklands. History Although, the structure was in place in the year 1850, it was opened in 1855, on a previously uninhabit ...

, London. Similar project at Caledonia Mills

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

. 1948 new quay wall and jetty at

1950 oil loading jetties at Al-Faw,

Shatt al-Arab The Shatt al-Arab ( ar, شط العرب, lit=River of the Arabs; fa, اروندرود, Arvand Rud, lit=Swift River) is a river of some in length that is formed at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the town of al-Qurnah in ...

, Iraq, followed by two more similar projects there. 1950-4 Smith's Dry dock and deepwater quay at North Shields 1953-5 quays at

Tilbury Docks The Port of Tilbury is a port on the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex, England. It is the principal port for London, as well as being the main United Kingdom port for handling the importation of paper. There are extensive facilities for contai ...

followed by

Beckton Beckton is a suburb in east London, England, located east of Charing Cross and part of the London Borough of Newham. Adjacent to the River Thames, the area consisted of unpopulated marshland known as the East Ham Levels in the parishes of Barki ...

Quay and

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...

Jetty, all on the Thames. Post-war, power station construction was carried out at Littlebrook (extensions),

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, Freemans Meadow

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, Uskmouth pump house (a major undertaking because of its location with an extreme tidal range, weighing 42,000 tons when complete),

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an anc ...

and Dalmarnock. The company is also reported to have carried out work in Australia

Bridges

1914 Esk Bridge Gretna, replacing one built by

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...

in 1820. 1922-6 Bridge over the

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

1924-8 Royal Tweed Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed 1930-3 Hampton Court Bridge 1934-7 Chelsea Bridge The first self-anchored suspension bridge in the country and the first steel bridge built by Holloways. Chelsea Bridge, London

1936-7 Towy Bridge at Carmarthen 1936- King Ghazi and King Faisal Bridges across the Tigris at Bagdhad 1936-40 Wandsworth Bridge 1939-

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

swing bridge 1945-50

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

combined road-rail bridge across the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

1956-8 bridge over the

Diyala River The Diyala River (Arabic: ; ku, Sîrwan; Farsi: , ) is a river and tributary of the Tigris. It is formed by the confluence of Sirwan river and Tanjaro river in Darbandikhan Dam in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate of Northern Iraq. It covers a to ...

at Baqubah

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Restoration of historic buildings, memorials and similar projects

Although heavily engaged in large scale construction and civil engineering work the firm was proud of its retention of craft skills. Work on churches included restoration and expansion of Hexham Abbey including a new nave and restoration of the choir screen and stalls, the building of a new chapel at Ampleforth Abbey (1922-5) and in 1926-30 the 9th

Church of Christ, Scientist The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word a ...

, Marsham Street

. There was a considerable demand for memorials and similar enterprises after both the First and Second World Wars. Of note are the Memorial Cloisters at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

(1924),

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

memorial,

Marlborough College ( 1 Corinthians 3:6: God gives the increase) , established = , type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = Nicholas Holtam , head_label = Master , head = Louis ...

Memorial Hall (1925), the

Arch of Remembrance The Arch of Remembrance is a First World War memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and located in Victoria Park, Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. Leicester's industry contributed significantly to the British war effort. A tempora ...

Victoria Park, Leicester Victoria Park in Leicester, England is a public park of 69 acres (279,000 m2). It is in the south-east, just outside the city centre, backing on to the University of Leicester and close to the Leicester railway station. History The park was hi ...

(1925), King George V Memorial Fountain Windsor (1937), the Trafalgar Square reconstruction (completed 1948), the Air Forces Memorial Runnymede (1953), and the Magna Carta Memorial, Runnymede (1957). The firm worked on many historic buildings including the restoration of war damage. They included the

Merchant Taylors' Hall, London The Merchant Taylors' Hall, London is the seat of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, one of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of the City of London surviving from Mediaeval times. The Company has occupied its present site between T ...

, College Building, Westminster School,

White Lodge, Richmond Park White Lodge is a Grade I listed Georgian house situated in Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Formerly a royal residence, it now houses the Royal Ballet Lower School, instructing students aged 11–16. Early histor ...

, Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park and the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

London.

World Wars

Although there were contracts to be completed, normal operations were severely affected by the recruitment of men to the armed forces and the government direction of labour, and new work was mainly or wholly devoted to the needs of war.

First World War

The firm completed numerous war contracts including camps, factories and ordnance sheds at Purfleet, Didcot and Langwith

and a hospital at Étaples in France. The company also built numerous houses for war workers at Rosyth, Roe Green Village, Kingsbury and

Cardington, Bedfordshire Cardington is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Part of the ancient hundred of Wixamtree, the settlement is best known in connection with the Cardington airship works founded by Short Brothers durin ...

. The most famous incident concerns the chairman, Henry Holloway, himself. He was approached by

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...

, when

Minister of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis ...

, for help in providing housing for the workers at the new war factories throughout the country. Henry Holloway, and his foreman Mr Gathercole, toured the country arranging the work with local builders and architects, achieving the target of providing the necessary housing within six months. Henry Holloway was knighted for his services in 1917.

Second World War

The war brought numerous contracts for the building of new camps, ordnance depots,

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

stations, hospitals and the like. The largest single contract was for the building of an ordnance factory at ROF Kirkby on which 15,000 men were employed at the peak of construction and the factory was able to commence operation in ten and a half months though the complete project took almost two years. Later in the war the firm responded to the urgent need to expand domestic coal production by engaging in

open cast mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of minin ...

for which they were well fitted by their experience with heavy earth moving equipment. The first such mine was in the

Dukeries The Dukeries is an area of the county of Nottinghamshire so called because it contained four ducal seats. It is south of Worksop, which has been called its "gateway". The area was included within the ancient Sherwood Forest. The ducal seats wer ...

area of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

in 1942, and the firm rapidly expanded its operations there and in the Newcastle area, for example at Whitley Bay. Holloways were contracted to build a series of

sea forts The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

for the defence of the Thames estuary, and these were built in reinforced concrete and steel in dock basins and berths at

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

. They were of two distinct types, four naval forts in reinforced concrete and three army forts each consisting of seven interlinked sections. When complete, they were towed out and sunk in position. This work then led to two more novel wartime activities. One was the building of small reinforced concrete floating docks for the repair of small vessels, in particular landing craft. They were designed by

Guy Maunsell Guy Anson Maunsell (1 September 1884 – 20 June 1961) was the British civil engineer responsible for the design of the World War II Naval sea forts and Army forts used by the United Kingdom for the defence of the Thames and Mersey estuaries ...

, who had also designed the sea forts, and the first three 400 ton units were ordered in August 1943. They consisted of slabs cast flat and placed upright when hardened, then the horizontal base was cast and the joins sealed with concrete. Fourteen were eventually constructed at Gravesend and elsewhere, and a number more were on order to be built in various locations including India when the war finished.Buxton, Ian. Admiralty Floating Docks. ''Warship 2010'' p.32-42 They could be built in as little as nine weeks and two, AFD 37 and 50, were deployed at Arromanches after D-Day. Also stemming from experience with the sea forts was the company's involvement in the development of the Mulberry harbour units.Hartcup, p. 94 In October 1942 Holloways were commissioned to build three units on the Hippo design of Hugh Iorys Hughes on shore at Conwy Morfa, no suitable dry dock being available. This was a considerable challenge because the largest unit, the pierhead, consisted of a reinforced concrete pontoon 203 feet long, with a beam of 45 feet and depth of 24 feet, on which was mounted a steel superstructure 62 feet high and itself weighing 350 tons. The total weight of the unit was 3,200 tons and had to be side launched. The solution was to build the unit on keel blocks and when complete transfer the weight to the launching cradle which ran over a curved ramp which increased in gradient from one in 16 to one in six. Although the Hippo design itself was not adopted the build and launching technique was widely used for other Mulberry units.

References

Sources

* * * Rolt, LTC.(1958), ''Holloways of Millbank The First Seventy-Five Years''. Newman Neame Ltd for Holloway Brothers (London) Ltd {{Authority control Construction and civil engineering companies of England Construction companies based in London Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1882 Companies disestablished in 1968 1882 establishments in England 1968 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1882 British companies disestablished in 1968