A MOVING portrayal of the Irish people who helped rebuild London from the end of World War II until the present day can now be viewed online.
The short film, commissioned for We Built This City panel discussion as part of the London Festival of Architecture, was produced and directed by David O'Sullivan of Dyehouse Films.
The fascinating footage was originally the prologue to a lively panel discussion which aimed to raise awareness and celebrate the contribution of Irish people to the material and cultural fabric of London — from historic to contemporary times.
In We Built This City, film clips and images of war-torn, bombed out London are juxtaposed with footage of the futuristic skyscrapers of the contemporary City of London and Canary Wharf developments. Every part of London’s infrastructure and transport system had to be repaired, renovated or renewed — and the Irish contribution was enormous, as this film makes clear.
We Built This City includes interviews between Irish labourers and Ultan Cowley, author of The Men Who Built Britain, as well as stunning footage of immigrants arriving in Britain from the 1940s onwards, their entertainment — in particular the dance halls of London — and the difficulties (in earlier times at least) of finding suitable digs. The era of “No Irish, no blacks, no dogs” had arrived.
Today, as the film makes clear, the Irish contribution to the continual reconstruction is at a much higher level, with the focus now on design, innovation and engineering, and with Irish companies providing everything from architects to interior designing experts.
We Built this City is a production by the Irish Architecture Foundation in collaboration with Irish Design 2015 and the Office of the Minister for Diaspora Affairs of Ireland. Irish Design 2015 is an initiative backed by the Irish Government celebrating and promoting Irish design in Ireland and internationally.
Watch it here:
We Built this City from Irish Architecture Foundation on Vimeo.
