A record of the urban redevelopment of Pilgrim Street in Newcastle, both before and during the construction of the Swann House Roundabout, for the Central Motorway East ring road and office complex. The film was commissioned by Newcastle City Planning Department, and filmed in 1964. Footage includes shots of the construction of Swan House, designed by architects Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall (RMJM). Building work has begun on Swan House, the inner ring road and office complex at the...

A record of the urban redevelopment of Pilgrim Street in Newcastle, both before and during the construction of the Swann House Roundabout, for the Central Motorway East ring road and office complex. The film was commissioned by Newcastle City Planning Department, and filmed in 1964. Footage includes shots of the construction of Swan House, designed by architects Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall (RMJM). Building work has begun on Swan House, the inner ring road and office complex at the bottom of Pilgrim Street towards the Tyne Bridge. The camera zooms in on a 1960s utilitarian office block in brick and concrete. Cars are parked on the waste ground of the cleared site. Construction is in progress on one of the office buildings. General views record construction on the site of the Pilgrim Street roundabout. A lone woman makes her way across an inhospitable part of the site beside a flyover. A high angle shot from scaffolding at an office block site captures work in progress on the multilevel road structure. A general view follows across the building site towards the firm of R. Hughes & Son, funeral directors, housed in an old Victorian building with tower. There is another shot of the firm from across a multi lane highway, possibly the A167. The final shots of the construction site are underexposed. [Note: During the 1960s many parts of Newcastle were designated Comprehensive Development Areas (C.D.A.s). T. Dan Smith, City Councillor 1950-1965, and William Burns, Chief Planning Officer, initiated a modernisation programme with widespread demolition of Victorian and Georgian parts of the city and construction of new urban motorways, parking facilities, commercial buildings and housing.]