We have undertaken a few structural designs for public toilet blocks over the years and although not the most glamourous of buildings to design, their importance far outweighs the desire for a structural challenge.
The story of the contemporary British home is closely connected to the development of solutions for dealing with human waste. Before the invention of the flushing toilet as we know it, many homes lacked the necessary indoor plumbing which would allow human waste to be flushed away into sewer systems. To understand how this modern luxury was achieved, we have to look back to the middle of the 18th century.
As industrialisation transformed Britain from the mid 1700s, urban areas became increasingly crowded with an explosion of the population in the following century. By the middle of the 19th century, the streets of London were overrun with human waste. For centuries, the only means of dealing with it was through a simple system of local waste disposal and night soil collectors emptying cesspits (cavities ideally brick lined, dug into the ground for both liquid and solid human waste) and rivers were little more than open sewers. Despite all this, it took a long time for the connection to be made between public health and the treatment of sewage.
Dr John Snow had proved the link between dirty drinking water and cholera in 1854 but his findings were rejected by a parliamentary select committee, his views were considered radical and unwelcome. Matters were finally addressed in the summer of 1858, when London endured the ‘Great Stink’. The atmosphere in the new Houses of Parliament became increasingly intolerable forcing the MPs to take action to tackle the issue. A bill was rushed through Parliament, becoming law in just 18 days, to provide money to the Metropolitan Board of Works to construct a new sewer scheme for London. Chief engineer Joseph Bazalgette was assigned the formidable task.
Construction began in 1859 and, at the time, it was the biggest civil engineering project in the world. Bazalgette had to insert into an immensely busy city 1,300 miles of tunnels built to last, carrying away waste generated by three million people and be able to handle future population growth. In addition, he had to acquire land, negotiate rights of way, buy and distribute materials and direct hundreds of labourers. He exceeded every expectation.
As part of the construction, he transformed several miles of riverside creating the Chelsea, Victoria and Albert embankments which provided space not only for the sewers but also left room for a new Underground line, ducts for utilities below and a new road above. Over reclaimed land, he built recreational green spaces. The entire project offered so much in improvements, including public health, transportation, traffic management, river management and recreation; it was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics.
By 1875, £6.5m had been spent building or revamping the 1,300 miles of sewers, and it was slowly reproduced around Britain. We continue to benefit from Bazalgette’s magnificent engineering legacy every time we flush.
* A memorial to Sir Joseph Bazalgette can be found on London’s Victoria embankment a few feet up river from the Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges.
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