Leeds Office - Geological Survey of Great Britain

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1959–1984 Leeds Office, Halton. To be a central 'regional' office to house the three field units then covering the north of England and a nucleus of palaeontological, petrological and photographic staff to service them.

Assistant Director, Leeds: Austin William Woodland.

Opening of the Leeds Office

1959 Summary of Progress reports:

"We reported last year that approval had been given for the establishment of an office in and for the North of England and that accommodation had been found for it in Leeds. As expected, this office was ready for occupation during the summer; the staff in the Manchester and Newcastle offices were transferred to Leeds and those two offices were closed ; the staff concerned with work in the North of England but based on London were also transferred to Leeds; records and materials were removed from Manchester, Newcastle and London. The Leeds Office is now in full working order although the curation of records and materials is not yet quite complete."

H.E. Wilson's book Down to earth quotes the following on the reasons for the Leeds Office:

"There was no further expansion until, with the Exhibition Road building bursting at the seams with the post-war increase in staff, a disused Post Office in Young Street, Kensington was rented in 1956 to house the Atomic Energy Division. By 1959 further room was needed and it was decided to group the three field units then covering the north of England at a central 'regional' office, with a nucleus of palaeontological, petrological and photographic staff to service them. A war-time office building, designed for possible use as an emergency hospital, was leased at Halton, some six miles from the centre of Leeds, and in the autumn of 1959 the Manchester and Newcastle offices were closed and the staff of the Yorkshire and East Midlands field unit, and some palaeontologists, moved from London. The Halton office consisted of a group of single-storey 'temporary' buildings radiating from a common L-shaped corridor. When first seen by Survey people it was in a state of dereliction and it took two years to make habitable. Shared with a GPO sorting office and with seemingly kilometres of corridor it had some disadvantages but proved to be popular with those who worked in it. A further 'finger' of offices was added in 1963 to accommodate the new North Wales Field Unit and at its maximum about 140 staff were based in Halton. With the development of Keyworth, staff from Leeds were gradually moved and the Leeds office was formally closed in June 1984."