Meet the contractors: Ballantine Castings Tickets and Dates

Meet the contractors: Ballantine Castings

Join us in our new series of talks where we meet some of the contractors involved in the mammoth task of repairing and restoring the historic Elizabeth Tower, home of Big Ben.

Work to conserve and modernise the Tower is taking place not just in London but all over the country, with specialists from across the UK bringing together their expertise of traditional craft techniques and modern conservation technologies to ensure that this iconic building is safeguarded for future generations to enjoy.

This week, we'll be joined by Gavin Ballantine, Director of Ballantine Castings, a family-run iron foundry based in West Lothian, Scotland, that has been working to replace some of the ironwork around the Tower.

In this 1-hour talk, Gavin will speak about his team's experiences in being involved in the Elizabeth Tower conservation project, from specialist techniques used to some of the interesting challenges that come with working on such a unique project - such as replacing the gutters, which are so big that you could swim in them!

As with many of the contractors working on the Elizabeth Tower, Ballantines do much of their production back in their local area of Bo'ness, and we'll hear more from Gavin on the foundry's history in the area and what advice he has for anyone looking to get into the ironwork industry today.

At the end of the talk, 15 minutes will be available for you to ask questions.

This is an online event and will be hosted on Microsoft Teams which you can access through web browsers like Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge. Safari is not currently supported. You do not need a Microsoft account to join the event. We will send full details of how to join the event online following registration.