Marconi's First Radio Factory is a Grade II listed building in the Chelmsford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 6 February 1974. Industrial. 4 related planning applications.
Marconi's First Radio Factory
- WRENN ID
- twelfth-flagstone-thrush
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Chelmsford
- Constituency
- Chelmsford MP: Marie Goldman (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 6 February 1974
- Type
- Industrial
- Address
- Marconi's First Radio Factory, The Old Silk Mill Building, Hall Street, CM2 0HH
- OS grid reference
- TL 710 063
- Coordinates
- 51.72939, 0.47473
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Marconi's First Radio Factory is a former silk mill built in 1856 by John Hall of Coggeshall. It was acquired by the Courtaulds of Braintree in 1865 and then by Marconi in 1899, becoming the world’s first wireless factory. The building is constructed of gault brick and features a parapetted south facade with Tuscan pilasters and a partly stuccoed entablature that has a brick dentil course over a radiused corner. It has a brick plinth and is two-storeys high, with metal industrial-type windows that include glazing bars and segmental brick arches. The roof is clad with slate, and the plan is roughly square with one curved corner. A plaque on the east wall commemorates Marconi's first factory. In 2016, the building was converted into six flats and a commercial unit.
Local climate
Marconi's First Radio Factory sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 98% 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 24 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 74% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 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
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 4 applications
- 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.
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