Duxford: Control Tower (Building 209)

An airfield control tower dating to 1942, built to a standard design by the Air Ministry’s Directorate of Works and Buildings.

MATERIALS: the tower is constructed of rendered brick and has an asphalt roof. The windows are metal framed; the units on the upper floor of the south elevation have been replaced and have slightly thicker frames than the originals.

PLAN: the tower is square on plan with a balcony which wraps around the south elevations and southern parts of the east and west elevations.

DESCRIPTION: the tower is two storeys with a metal and glass roof top addition. The main access is in the centre of the north-west elevation via a single-leaf door. The south elevation is airside and has large multi-pane steel casement windows facing the runway and on the southern sides of the east and west elevations to provide wide visibility to the runway. A concrete balcony with tubular steel safety barrier also wraps around the airside elevations which is cantilevered out from the building and now also supported with iron columns, which were added later. Access to the balcony is by external steel staircase and by single leaf doors on either side of the former control room. The external stairs also give access to the roof which has a tubular steel safety barrier on all four sides. The current control room is a metal and glass structure which was added to the top of the building in the late 1980s and is of less interest.

As well as the main entrance the north elevation has two windows on the ground floor and a WC window to the far right. There is one window between the floors which lights the staircase and three windows on the left of the first floor. There is an irregular series of steel-framed casement windows on the east and west elevations. A timber-board door is located in the centre of the east elevation.

INTERIOR: the finishes of the building are utilitarian with plain, plastered and painted walls and exposed trunk and pipework. Some half panelled doors remain. The ground floor contains offices, WCs and a small kitchen accessed from a central passageway. The first floor is reached by a steep, single-flight stair located in the north-western corner of the building. The first floor contains the former control room which occupies the southern end of the building and is now used as a briefing room. It contains internal windows into the signal room next door, and also has a small cubicle, apparently used for radio. A further room on the first floor was used as the controller's rest room.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), it is declared that modern air traffic control equipment and associated services are not of special architectural or historic interest.