2-887-653 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, City of London, 01/10/1963. A McKinney DAG 60 drilling rig in operation during the construction of the Paternoster development, with the west end of St Paul's Cathedral in the background. Work on the Paternoster development was carried out in a joint venture by John Laing Construction Limited, Trollope and Colls Limited, and George Wimpey and Company Limited. The scheme involved the redevelopment of a seven acre site on the north side of St Paul’s Cathedral. The site had been almost entirely devastated during an incendiary raid in December 1940. The development consisted of a series of office blocks, a shopping precinct, an extensive piazza and a three-level car park. The various blocks were named after former Bishops of London. The tallest block was 18-storeys in height and was called Sudbury House. The three 10-storey blocks were Courtenay, Walden and Grendall Houses, and the five-storey blocks were Laud, Sheldon and Bancroft Houses. This photograph was published in November 1963 in Laing's monthly newsletter 'Team Spirit'. Beneath it, the captions describes how the DAG 60 drilling rig had recently been introduced to this country by McKinney Foundations Limited.