Up: Hayward
YOR: 107 of 113
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Palace of Westminster, the special cellar-flaps, laylights and duct
covers installed during the rebuilding of the House of Commons must
have struck terror into his heart. At the Southampton Terminal, the
first sight many visitors glimpse of England, the concrete windows
and internal stairs are of Hayward construction. In famous hospitals--
Guy's, the Middlesex, St. Mary's among them-- the discerning eye will
detect Haywards' work.
The national need to export had an indirect
effect on the company's production. At the great warehouses the
company's steel doors open and shut on the world's trade. At Union
Street, orders from abroad were diverse and spasmodic compared with
the pressing demands of home industries urgently requiring equipment
before they themselves could export. French waggon doors, aluminium
glazing bars for the Pakistan railway sheds, and roof-glazing and
steel doors for Ireland were examples of direct exports. But the
company's main contribution was and is its determination not to
arrest building progress in other industries with export responsibilities
by delays in supplying essential equipment.
And so, after a hundred and seventy years we
come into the present. It is difficult to give anything but the barest
description of the many facets of the business over such a long period
of time or to enumerate changes in methods of production. Any kind of
catalogue must soon become dated.
Many things, however, remain. Those early
products, coal plates, ventilators, pavement and other lights are still
prominent in the company's lists. Fire resisting doors and escape
staircases, diving stages and other manufactures have been added later
and today the range of manufacture is wider than it has ever been
before.
At Haywards, there is no mass production in
the general meaning of the term; most products are "purpose made."
The visitor to the Borough works or Enfield is impressed by the amount
of handwork and craftsmanship still pursued. This varies naturally with
requirements. Although modern economic conditions limit demands for
highly artistic work, the company's
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