County Police Communication Tower

NZ24SE 1914/4/10017

AYKLEY HEADS County Police Communication Tower

26-MAR-03

II

Radio mast for the Durham County Police. 1965-68 to the designs of Ove Arup and Partners. Reinforced concrete, 49.4m tall, plus top aerial spigot mounting, comprising a mast on three legs. It was decided from the start that the structure should be precast in five elements comprising mast unit, three leg units and a key unit connection. In this way the need for full height scaffolding and formwork was avoided. After precasting, the leg and key units were erected to form a tripod on an in situ foundation. Subsequently the mast unit was lifted into position by two giant cranes. There was thus no need to support the structure against the wind during its construction. It was more desirable to have the mast superimposed on a tripod as opposed to a pure shaft, as this avoided high bending moments at ground level. This not only aids the radio operation but gave a more elegant form to the structure.

This one-off elegant design in reinforced concrete was a response to the sensitive site overlooking Durham Cathedral. Concrete enabled a slender mast to be built within the required wind tolerances, to avoid bending which would distort the narrow radio frequencies. The tripod base enabled the mast to be made still more slender while meeting this very precise brief.

Concrete Society Awards 1969, special mention

Source Building, 27 September 1968, p.114