George Cohen, Sons and Company was a scrap metal merchant with offices in Commercial Road, London.
[3] After the First World War the company won a number of large contracts to dispose of surplus munitions including "400,000 tons of high explosives and other shells".
[4] The company also engaged in demolition work, with projects including the towers of Crystal Palace,[5] which had survived the great fire, the Dome of Discovery and Skylon at the Festival of Britain, and London's tram system.
[8] In 1970 the '600 Group' set up a joint venture, 'Six Hundred Metal Holdings', with Thorn Electrical Industries to operate the two companies' metal-handling businesses.
The site covered approximately 14 acres (6 ha) of land and had also been the base of several other companies that operated under the banner of the 600 Group.