The Building of an engineering works in Goldsmith Avenue, Portsmouth

W J Evans’ film starts at an office meeting before we see men working outside on the demolition and construction of a section of the Marcyn Works on Goldsmiths Road, Fratton. Trolleybuses and traffic pass along the road as the construction continues.We see new machinery being unloaded and installed in the new building and both men and women are seen working at lathes and milling machines. Around them the remaining construction work continues as glaziers complete the roof.

W J Evans took over his father's engineering business, the Marcyn Works, in Portsmouth on the eve of World War 2. Already a keen photographer, Evans began making films from about 1937 - chronicling a variety of events in and around Portsmouth, including civic events, family scenes, holidays, foreign business trips and activities at the Marcyn Works. During the war, the factory’s premises, vulnerable to bombing by the Luftwaffe, were requisitioned under Defence Regulations. The firm was relocated to Frome, in Somerset, where components for aircraft were manufactured as part of the war effort. The firm returned to Fratton after the war. In 1969 Mr Evans was elected Lord Mayor of Portsmouth. He died in 1974.