was one of the largest in Europe. He later admitted that the practice expanded "beyond my wildest dreams" and offices were opened in London, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne, Edinburgh, Beirut and Lagos, Nigeria. Local authorities In 1958, the National Liberal MP Sir Herbert Butcher advised his friend Poulson to set up a servicing company to win business for his architect's practice. Poulson established Ropergate Services Ltd., named after the street in Pontefract where he was based. This company also had the advantage of reducing Poulson's tax liability considerably. In the late 1950s, there was a building boom as many local authorities embarked on major building schemes. In Newcastle upon Tyne, council leader T. Dan Smith's ambition to redevelop Newcastle attracted the attention of the construction firm Bovis which had worked for Poulson. Bovis' managing director suggested formalising links and in February 1962 Smith was appointed as a consultant to the Poulson organisation. This connection was extremely valuable to Poulson as Smith had a network of contacts among other authorities in the north-east, many of whom were also recruited as Poulson consultants. Smith's involvement with the Labour Party reassured many Labour councillors wary of dealing with someone involved in the Conservative-allied National Liberals. Poulson also won other public sector work in the North East, such as Sunderland Police Station. Poulson also found a useful contact in Andrew Cunningham, a senior figure in both the General and Municipal Workers Union and the Labour Party in North East England. Some of Poulson's largest residential blocks were built in Cunningham's home town of Felling, County Durham. Cunningham was later imprisoned for his dealings with the architect. Poulson's work in Felling consisted of the building of one 16-storey high-rise apartment block with six seven-storey blocks of maisonettes surrounding it. These were approved in 1966. Four of the low-rise maisonette blocks were demolished in 1987 owing to their poor state of repair and tenants dislike of them. Two maisonette blocks and the high-rise block Crowhall Tower remain. In his home town of Pontefract, Poulson won much local authority work for the then Pontefract Municipal Borough Council, such as the town's library and the Horsefair flats, a high-rise social housing project consisting of four six-storey blocks and one twelve-storey block, constructed between 1963 and 1964, which has proved controversial owing to its proximity to Pontefract Castle. Nationalised industries Poulson was in a good position to gain commissions