Duxford: Nissen Hut known as Building 171 is a Grade II listed building in the South Cambridgeshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 January 2019. Nissen hut.
Duxford: Nissen Hut known as Building 171
- WRENN ID
- tenth-transept-umber
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- South Cambridgeshire
- Constituency
- South Cambridgeshire MP: Pippa Heylings (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 18 January 2019
- Type
- Nissen hut
- Address
- Duxford: Nissen Hut known as Building 171, Imperial War Museum, Duxford Airfield, Cambridge, CB22 4QR
- OS grid reference
- TL 457 460
- Coordinates
- 52.09376, 0.12615
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Nissen hut known as Building 171 was designed by Major Peter Norman Nissen and installed at RAF Duxford between 1940 and 1945.
This building features a prefabricated steel structure with a half-cylindrical skin made of corrugated steel and internal timber supports. It has a rectangular plan.
On the exterior, the half-cylindrical skin is complemented by wooden frames at either end that support vertical timber weatherboarding. The northern end has three timber plank and batten doors that create a wide entrance, with a single casement window to the left and a ventilation panel above. The southern end features a central plank and batten door flanked by simple casement windows. Additionally, a dormer has been added on the eastern side, with the corrugated sheeting supported by a timber window frame.
Inside, the structural steel frame is visible, but the internal face has been sprayed with insulating foam, which distorts some detailing. The internal space has been subdivided with particleboard, and a door has been inserted, but these changes have not significantly affected the original structural frame. The floor is made of concrete.
Local climate
Duxford: Nissen Hut known as Building 171 sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 76% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 52% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings
Nearby listed buildings
- Duxford: Machine Gun Range and Shelter Sheds
- Building 48 (Works Services Building)
- Buildings 53, 55, 57, 58 and 292
- Duxford: Building 78 (Hangar 5)
- Duxford: Operations Block and Blast Walls (Building 59)
- Building 10 (Station Sick Quarters) and Decontamination Annexe
- American Air Museum, including 'Counting the Cost' war memorial
- Building 11 (Airmen Pilots' Block)
- Building 61 (Station Offices)
- Buildings 7, 8, 9 and 13 (Airmen's Barracks)