An Extraordinary Job!

1st September 2014

An Extraordinary Job!

October 2014 – Appointed by the City of London Corporation, Working At Height have designed, manufactured and installed what must be one of the most prestigious and certainly one of the most interesting walkways in the UK, in London to be precise and to be even more precise, below ground at 101 Lower Thames Street in the City of London. This to view, in ours and many others’ opinions, London's best kept secret, and the most ancient protected monument in London, seen recently by the wider public in the documentary by Stephen Fry called ‘Key to the City - Exploring the Mysteries of the City of London’.

Walking along Lower Thames Street, few people would realise that some of Roman London’s best remains lie hidden beneath their feet. The Billingsgate Roman Bath House was first discovered in 1848. Today, its remains lie under the buildings at 101 Lower Thames Street and are not open to the public, but shall now be to dignitaries, renowned archaeologists and their students.

The project brief was to design a viewing walkway along the sides and over the Roman remains, however at no point could the walkway be supported from the floor, and minimum amount of support could be taken from the concrete ceiling above, therefore we had to cantilever the walkway, as if floating above the ruins. This was a huge task when you consider that English Heritage conservators were present at all times to ensure that we never came into contact with any part of the ruins, so slow and methodical was the order of the day.

The first part of the task was to manage 7.40m lengths of pre-cut aluminium walkway from street level into the Bath House via a narrow staircase and single door, this was going to be one of the biggest hurdles in one of the City of London’s busiest streets. Once all the walkway was below ground, there was a collective sigh of relief, and the proper work could begin. The installation was completed just in time for ‘Open House London’ on the 20th and 21st of September 2014, when there was over 1,500 visitors to the Bath House, the only time of the year presently that the general public can visit. To add to their overall experience, the walkway was finished with thousands of LED lights that emit a warm white light over the ruins, creating an atmosphere benefitting of the incredible sight.

We hope and believe that this walkway will be a lasting legacy for future generations. The Bath House was built nearly 2,000 years ago and discovered 150 years ago by the Victorians, and thankfully protected ever since, only the Romans could have built this, just incredible! However we also think that it has taken a special type of business to take on this walkway challenge, over 3 years in the planning but we made it happen, an engineering feat that we are extremely proud of.