Wd and Ho Wills, Whitchurch Lane, City of Bristol, UK, 1972 (b/w photo)

Photographer, John Laing and Son Ltd; Builder, John Laing and Son Ltd; Architect, Skidmore Owings and Merrill; Architect, Yorke Rosenberg Mardall; A view of the steel frame of the Wills tobacco factory at Hartcliffe, Bristol under construction The main working area of the factory was designed to be a clear span, a space larger than two football pitches free of columns or obstructions. This was achived by the use of 90m long trusses spanning the building 10m above the roof level but in order to erect this superstructure a roof of purlins and secondary trusses had to first be put up on temporary columns that were later removed. It is possibly these temporary columns that can be seen in this image.