At Prologis, we believe it’s important to preserve links to local history, which is why we completed a memorial to local Hillingdon brick workers at Prologis Park West London. Designed as a decorative brick wall overlooking the Grand Union Canal at the southern end of the site, the wall was constructed using bricks that were made by local schools and community groups as part of Groundwork South London’s Foundations project.

During the Industrial Revolution, West London had become a centre of the brickmaking industry and as we discovered at a community consultation meeting, Prologis Park West London is located on one of the Hillingdon brick fields. Located next to the Grand Union Canal, bricks made here would have been transported by barge to Paddington for use in buildings such as the Royal Albert Hall.

Another brick in the wall

Groundwork South set up London’s Foundations, with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, to help local people rediscover their local brickfields, to learn about the lives of the brick workers and to explore the connections between the brickfields and the canal network.

Read more about Hillingdon’s Victorian brickfields

As part of the project, schools and community groups were encouraged to make their own bricks in the traditional way. Some of these bricks were retained by Groundwork South and these are the bricks that Prologis used to build the memorial.

“This was a fascinating project,” said Paul Weston, Senior Vice President, Prologis. “We were fortunate to work with Groundwork South and the Canal and Rivers Trust to agree the best way to commemorate the local brick workers and we are delighted that the memorial wall has been such a success.

“We have also installed an information board in front of the wall to explain the London’s Foundations project and the history it commemorates. The information board forms part of a local industrial heritage trail.”

Forging a further link to the past, the main road through Prologis Park West London is named Clayfield Way.