2-879-358 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

British Library, Euston Road, St Pancras, Camden, London, c June 1984. A crane lowering two men in a safety cage into a mock-up pile foundation shaft as part of a training exercise at the British Library. Everyone on the course had to climb the ladder in the 2m diameter shaft from a trial depth of 5m wearing breathing apparatus. This was to replicate the conditions of working at the base of shafts to secure the foot of the steel columns that would support the 5 basement book storage levels. 119 steel columns with brackets to support the basement floor slabs were installed in 20m deep 2m diameter shafts which were lined with corrugated steel and backfilled with pea gravel ballast. The columns were exposed in stages as each basement level was excavated and the floor slabs constructed.