to this clause, with the qualification that it would not apply if costs increased for reasons beyond his control, and a sub-committee was formed to "superintend the progress of the works". No public building so large had been erected in the town before. It has almost as large a footprint as the Temple Works flax mill in Holbeck (1840). Brodrick was also interested in bold new techniques. The roof of the Victoria Hall uses an innovative system of laminated wooden beams, held by wrought-iron bolts, with a span. This is thought to be the first example in wood, taken from the roof designs of Paxton's Crystal Palace and Lewis Cubitt's King's Cross train shed, both also constructed in the 1850s. Construction Building works On 25 July 1853, the building contract was awarded to Samuel Atack, a Leeds builder and bricklayer, and Benjamin Musgrave, a dyer. It was for £41,835 and included a completion target of 1 January 1856; both elements eventually turned out to have been greatly underestimated. The building is mostly of local Yorkshire stone, but the problems of finding enough large blocks of sufficient quality meant using millstone grit from 17 different quarries, which led to worries about whether the colour would match. Rawdon Hill stone was favoured for those parts of the building on which there would be carving; Derbyshire gritstone formed many of the columns. The foundation stone was laid on 17 August 1853, by the mayor, John Hope Shaw. Sizeable crowds were present at the ceremony, in which the Mayor placed into the stone's cavity some items of the era to form a time capsule, including coins and newspapers, and laid mortar on the stone with a silver trowel (on public display at Leeds City Museum). Subsequent speeches were followed by a long procession consisting of brass bands, Brodrick, magistrates, members of the council, and others. Celebrations continued with a civic banquet, festivities on Woodhouse Moor, and fireworks. During the works, Brodrick is reported as being "determined to see the scheme through 'whatever the cost'". Extracts from the log-book of the Clerk of Works, James Donaldson, surviving at West Yorkshire Archive Service, reveal Brodrick's insistence on the highest quality of work. Recurrent complaints include slow progress, poor workmanship, poor quality of stone, and insufficient through stones; Atack and Musgrave were more used to building mills than fine, large-scale public buildings. A January 1854 note from