J. L. Eve Construction
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J. L. Eve Construction was a civil engineering company from south London.


History

The company was formed on 8 February 1930 by John Leonard Eve (3 February 1887 - 25 June 1954) from
Aveley Aveley is a village and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United King ...
in
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
. He grew up at Cranham Hall in
Cranham Cranham is a residential area of east London, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross and comprises an extensive built-up area to the north and a low density conservation area to the south sur ...
in Essex, now part of London. Richard Newland Eve had lived there from 1896. His mother was Elizabeth Mary Manning, daughter of Abraham Manning, of Moor Hall in Rainham. His parents married on 5 June 1873 at Aveley church. His father died on 19 October 1917, aged 72. Richard was the son of William Eve, of Manor House in
North Ockendon North Ockendon is the easternmost settlement of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is east-northeast of Central London and consists of a dispersed settlement within the Metropolitan Green Belt. It was histo ...
. On 18 November 1937, his first wife Nancy Gill died, with the funeral at Hornchurch parish church. He remarried Doris Matthews in 1940, with a son David born on 16 February 1945. In 1924 he was appointed as the Chief Engineer for the river crossings of the Scottish area of the
Central Electricity Board The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...
(CEB, which existed from 1926 to 1947). He worked with Robert Chandler-Brown. The
CEGB The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Janua ...
came into existence in 1957. J.L. Eve left a son and a daughter. ;Chain Home and National Grid In the 1930s the company built steel-lattice towers for the new National Grid and for the
Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal early warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...
transmitters. The electrical cable was often supplied by
Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer based in the city of Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 1922, is the 5th-largest tyre manufacturer, and is focused on the consumer pro ...
UK of
Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...
in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
(now
Prysmian Group Prysmian S.p.A. is a multinational company with headquarters in Milan, Italy, specialising in the production of electrical cable for use in the energy and telecom sectors and for optical fibres. Prysmian is present in Europe with 48 plants, 23 ...
). The
Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...
had contacted the company to build two test radar transmitters, one on the south coast, and one on Orkney. After 1939, the company extended it to over fifty radar sites. It built the first part of the supergrid in 1952 from Tilbury to Elstree - with a 275kV voltage instead of 132kV and 136 ft instead of 85 ft, with 45 miles for the
British Electricity Authority The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for ...


Ownership

It joined the
Unlisted Securities Market The Unlisted Securities Market (USM), which ran from 1980 to 1996, was a stock exchange set up by the London Stock Exchange to cater for companies too small to qualify for a full listing. The USM allowed companies to be traded which did not have ...
in September 1986 From 1982 to 1988 it was known as Eve Construction. It would later be known as Eve Group plc from April 1988, then Eve Group Ltd and Babcock Networks Ltd from 2004. It was bought by the Peterhouse Group plc in January 2000. In the late 1990s the chief executive was Alan Robertson, with finance director Christopher Wigg. Babcock Networks, its successor, is situated off the M1 at Sherwood Park at
Annesley Annesley is a village and civil parish in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Hucknall and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,162 (including Annesley Woodhouse to the west), and this inc ...
, next to
E.ON UK E.ON UK is a British energy company and one of the largest suppliers of energy in the UK, following its acquisition of Npower. It is a subsidiary of E.ON of Germany and one of the Big Six energy suppliers. It was founded in 1989 as Powergen, ...
; its training base is at the former
RAF Newton Royal Air Force Newton or more simply RAF Newton is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and south west of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, England. It was used briefly as a bomber base for squadron ...
in Nottinghamshire. On Thursday March 2003 at 2.10pm
Prince Andrew, Duke of York Prince Andrew, Duke of York (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960) is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a younger bro ...
visited Eve Transcom in
Annesley Annesley is a village and civil parish in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Hucknall and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,162 (including Annesley Woodhouse to the west), and this inc ...
(Sherwood Park) in
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
, near junction 27 of the M1, later visiting Carlsbro at 3.20pm.


Sponsorship

From 1982 to 2000, it sponsored the
Surrey Championship The Surrey Championship is a cricket organisation in Surrey running 6 divisions for 1st & 2nd XI cricket, 4 for 3rd XI and 4 for 4th XI. Since 2000 it has been a designated ECB Premier League.Castle Lager Castle Lager is a South African pale lager. It is the flagship product of South African Breweries. It is widely considered the 'national beer' of South Africa due to its widespread popularity and production within the country. History Castle ...
.


Structure

It was based at ''Minster House'' on Plough Lane in
Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...
. It was based south of Summerstown on the B235, north of
Haydons Road railway station Haydons Road railway station is in the north-east of the London Borough of Merton in South London. It is the nearest station to the Plough Lane stadium, the home ground of AFC Wimbledon. The station is served by Thameslink trains on the Sut ...
(on the A218).


Divisions

Later divisions of Eve Group were: * Eve Arclive, formed on 18 June 1976 - electrical contracting, later it became Eve Power * Trakway, later known as Eve Trakway and now known as Live (Trakway) and based in
Bramley Vale Bramley Vale is a village in Derbyshire, England, south of Bolsover. It is in the civil parish of Ault Hucknall. History Bramley Vale is a former colliery village and has a lengthy mining heritage, from the opening of the Glapwell colliery in 1 ...
and
Doe Lea Doe Lea is a small, linear village in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the Bolsover district of the county and falls in the Ault Hucknall civil parish. The village runs along the old A617 road. A newer dual carriageway (currently t ...
in
Ault Hucknall Ault Hucknall (Old English: ''Hucca's nook of land'') is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover (borough), Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,053. Local residents describe ...
near
Glapwell Glapwell is a rural village and civil parish on the A617 road in the Bolsover District of north-east Derbyshire, The village is at the top of a steep hill at an elevation of 176m, on the western edge of the Southern Magnesian Limestone, overloo ...
in
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
off the A617, east of the ''
Heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...
Interchange'' M1 junction 29, and supplies
crowd control barrier Crowd control barriers (also referred to as crowd control barricades, with some versions called a French barrier or bike rack in the USA, and mills barriers in Hong Kong) are commonly used at many public events. They are frequently visible at ...
s and
temporary fencing Temporary fencing is a free standing, self-supporting fence panel. The panels are held together with couplers that interlock panels together making it portable and flexible for a wide range of applications. Fence panels are supported with count ...
. It is owned by
Ashtead Group Ashtead Group Public Limited Company is a British industrial equipment rental company based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but, as of December 2024, it is contemplating a US ...
, who trade as ''A-Plant''. In 2002 Eve Trakway built the Super Fortress security fence for the
Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...
. Eve Construction Trakway was at Lower Heyford, then moved to
Sutton-in-Ashfield Sutton-in-Ashfield is a market town in Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of 36,404 in 2021. It is the largest town in the district of Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, Ashfield, four miles west of Mansfield, from the Derbyshire border and ...
in the 1970s. * Eve Telecom Eve Transcom, comprised * Eve Transmission - carried out construction and repair of
transmission lines In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...
for the National Grid * Eve Cellular - in late 1999, it had built over 7,000
mobile phone base station The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and mobile broadband modems. GSM is also ...
s throughout the 1990s * Eve Engineering Design Services * Eve Structures


Construction projects

It built
structural steel Structural steel is steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section (geometry), cross section. Structural steel sha ...
fabricated buildings or structures.


Electrical substations

It built many regional
electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station an ...
s *
Irthlingborough Irthlingborough () is a town on the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England. As of 2021, it has a population of 9,325, and was at one point the smallest town in England to have had a Football League team, Rushden & Diamonds F.C. The pari ...
, Northamptonshire, around 1956 *
Shenfield Shenfield is a suburb of Brentwood, Essex, Brentwood in the Borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, it was estimated to have a population of 5,396. History The former village, by the church and Green Dragon public house, pub, lies alo ...
, south-west Essex, around 1960 * Tilbury, Thurrock, around 1960 *
Capenhurst Capenhurst is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is two miles south west of Ellesmere Port, at the southern end of the Wi ...
, Cheshire, around 1961 *
Sundon Sundon is a civil parish in the English county of Bedfordshire. There are two settlements: the one called Upper Sundon at the top of the hill is now the main village, and the presumably older one by the church is now a hamlet called Lower S ...
, Bedfordshire, around 1961 *
Three Bridges, West Sussex Three Bridges is one of 14 neighbourhoods within the town of Crawley, in the county of West Sussex in England. History Three Bridges, at first a tiny hamlet (place), hamlet, began to grow with the coming of the London and Brighton Railway in ...
, part of Crawley, around 1961 * Iver Heath, around 1961 *
Ystradowen Ystradowen is a small village twelve miles west of Cardiff, located in Penllyn, Vale of Glamorgan, Penllyn Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales; its nearest town is Cowbridge which is about three miles to the sou ...
, south Wales, around 1964 * Walham, north Gloucester, around 1964 * Burwell, east
Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
near Suffolk border, around 1965 * Broomfield Road,
Palmers Green Palmers Green is a suburban area and electoral ward in north London, England, within the London Borough of Enfield. It is located within the N13 postcode district, around north of Charing Cross. It is home to the largest population of Greek Cy ...
, around 1965 * Hayes, at North Hyde Gardens, around 1967, known for the Hayes substation fire *
Southwick, West Sussex Southwick () is a town in the Adur district of West Sussex, England located five miles (8 km) west of Brighton. It covers an area of . In 2001 it had a population of 13,195. The town is loosely divided into three sections: south of Bright ...
, around 1969 *
Bolney Bolney is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester, near the junction of the A23 road ...
, the east of
West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...
, around 1970 *
Brockley Brockley is a district and an wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. It has been named the best area of London to live in. It is an area rich in Vi ...
, South east London, around 1970 *
Longford, London Longford is a suburban village in the London borough of Hillingdon, England. It is immediately northwest of London Heathrow Airport, which is in the same borough. It is the westernmost settlement in Greater London, very close to the borders of b ...
, around 1970


Transmitters

*
Angus transmitting station The Angus transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated approximately five miles due north of Dundee, between the villages of Charleston and Tealing, Scotland (). It includes a guyed steel lattice mast which ...
near
Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...
, north of
Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
, in October 1965 *
Bilsdale transmitting station The Bilsdale transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, located at Bilsdale West Moor above Bilsdale, close to Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England. The original facility included a Radio masts and towers#Tubular ste ...
on the
North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of Calluna, heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a national parks of England and Wales, National P ...
*
Divis transmitting station Divis transmitting station is the main high-power UHF and BBC National FM/DAB station that serves Belfast, County Antrim and parts of County Down. History Situated just outside Belfast, it is the primary UHF/FM main station in Northern Irela ...
(500 ft), carries television for eastern Northern Ireland in the mid-1950s *
Durris transmitting station The Durris transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated close to the town of Stonehaven, within Durris Forest, within the area also known historically as Kincardineshire (). It is owned and operated by Arqi ...
; 38-year-old Thomas Sutherland of Blairgowrie died in its construction on 24 October 1966, falling 175 ft from 300 ft up the mast; the company had a regional office in Edinburgh * The original
Emley Moor The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor, west of the village centre of Emley, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It is made up of a concrete tower and apparatus that began ...
steel-tube mast, which collapsed on 19 March 1969.; also built the 50-ton 180 ft top steel lattice, on the top of the current structure in December 1970 * Meldrum transmitting station (500 ft) on Core Hill carries national radio in north-east Scotland, in the mid-1950s * Selkirk transmitting station in 1961/62, which is 925 ft above sea level *
Skelton Transmitting Station The Skelton Transmitting Station is a radio transmitter site at near Skelton, Cumbria, England, about north-west of Penrith, Cumbria, Penrith, run by Babcock International and owned by the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of De ...
, the tallest structure in the UK at 365 metres, and was built in the war for clandestine broadcasts, now a few miles west of the M6, north of Penrith * Start Point transmitting station on the most southern point of the
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
coast, in the late 1930s *
Stockland Hill transmitting station The Stockland Hill transmitting station is a transmitting facility of FM Radio and UHF television located near Honiton, Devon, England. It was constructed in 1961 by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, IBA to transmit ITV Network, ITV 405 ...
, in the east of Devon, towards Dorset, for the IBA in 1961 for 405-line b/w television *
Tacolneston transmitting station The Tacolneston transmitting station is a facility for both analogue and digital VHF/ FM radio and UHF television transmission near Tacolneston, south-west of Norwich, Norfolk, England. It includes a tall guyed steel lattice mast, which w ...
for the new
BBC East BBC East is one of BBC's English Regions covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and parts of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire (including the City of Milton Keynes). It is headquartered in The Forum ...
services; the site was known for many years first as the Norwich television transmitter *
Woofferton transmitting station The Woofferton transmitting station is owned and operated by Encompass Digital Media, as one of the BBC's assets which were handed over as part of the privatization of World Service distribution and transmission in 1997. It is the last remaini ...
, at
Woofferton Woofferton is a village to the south of Ludlow, in Shropshire, England. It is one of Shropshire's most southerly villages and lies on the border with Herefordshire. It is part of the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Richard's Castle ...
in the south of
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
, on the
Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...
boundary, important in clandestine broadcasts in the Second World War


Powerlines

* 275kV line from
Beauly Beauly ( ; ; ) is a village in Scotland's Highland (council area), Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North Line, Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the County of Inverness. ...
to
Kintore, Aberdeenshire Kintore (; ) is a town and former royal burgh near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, now bypassed by the A96 road between Aberdeen and Inverness. It is situated on the banks of the River Don. Nearby are the remains of Hallforest Castl ...
in 1960, for the
North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board (1943–1990) was founded to design, construct and manage hydroelectricity projects in the Highlands of Scotland. It is regarded as one of the major achievements of Scottish politician Thomas Johnston, ...
*
Llantarnam Llantarnam () is a village of Cwmbran, and is a community and electoral ward in the county borough of Torfaen in south east Wales. The ward covers the same area as the community, but also includes Southville. It is equidistant from Cwmbran town c ...
to Crumlin * Melksham - Bramley 275kV in 1958 * Poplar - Brimsdown 132kV in 1950 * Berkeley - Gloucester 132kV in 1952 * Penn - Round Oak 132kV in 1956 * Tilbury - Basildon 132 kV in 1957 * Drax - Eggborough - Keadby 400kV in 1968 * Drax - Thornton Junction 400kV in 1969


Electricity river crossings

* Aust Severn Powerline Crossing (488 ft tall) - the longest powerline crossing in the United Kingdom at 1700 m (5,310 ft) between towers (built around 1955) * Foyle river crossing, around 1959''Belfast News-Letter'' Friday 22 May 1959, page 9


See also

* Bierrum, (Danish) builder of Britain's
cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream, to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove heat and cool the ...
s *
Powerline river crossings in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, Electric power transmission, powerlines cross rivers and estuaries either in the form of Overhead power line, overhead lines or with Submarine power cable, cables carried in tunnels. Overhead power lines are supported on tow ...


References


External links


Grace's Guide

Renovation Construction

''J.L. Eve Construction Co. Ltd.''
at the British Film Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:Eve, J. L. Construction Structural steel 1930 establishments in England British companies established in 1930 Companies based in the London Borough of Merton Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1930 Construction and civil engineering companies of the United Kingdom National Grid (Great Britain) Technology companies established in 1930