How was the Barbican built?

After a competition to find the right architecture firm, the City commissioned Chamberlin, Powell and Bon. This firm had worked on the nearby Golden Lane Estate. But the process involved many hundreds of other people.

Hundreds of workers had to do the actual business of digging, building and bricklaying. They made wooden ‘shuttering’ as a mould for the Barbican’s famous concrete to be poured into, and then gave it the distinctive ‘bush-hammered’ surface.

This involved using vibrating drill tools, similar to the ones used in roadworks, to create a regular pattern of dents. In some cases the repeated vibrations led to permanent nerve damage in the workers’ hands.

As well as damage to workers' hands, the dust led to breathing problems. Workers on the site remember these jobs being carried out mainly by Black employees.

Conditions were often poor and in response, workers staged strikes which became known as ‘The Battle of the Barbican’. This led to delays in construction and also changed the shape of UK Labour history.