Construction at Portsmouth Polytechnic

Portsmouth Polytechnic is about to rise from its foundations in this short 1968 film from George Sloane - and there isn't a hard hat to be seen

This short film starts at a building site on which the new Portsmouth Polytechnic is about to be built. The demolished remains of previous buildings can be seen as diggers begin to excavate new foundations. Steel cages wait for their concrete infill as a batch of girders arrives on the site. After more views of the open building site we see two construction workers attacking older concrete structures with pneumatic drills.

Established in 1969, Portsmouth Polytechnic was the successor to the city's College of Technology. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Polytechnic expanded rapidly and by offering an increased number of syllabuses attracting more and more students, the institution became one of the largest polytechnics in the UK. The 1992 Further and Higher Education Act granted the Polytechnic university status. It thus became the University of Portsmouth and under the terms of the 1992 Act could validate its own academic degrees.