Control Tower at North Weald Airfield

Control Tower at North Weald Airfield

This is a Type 5223a/51 control tower, one of a series built to a standard design. The building dates from the Second World War period and comprises a central two-storey tower constructed around a steel frame, crowned by an octagonal steel-framed glazed visual control room providing a 360-degree view. Single-storey wings flank the tower to the north and south, with an additional slightly lower wing to the north, and an entrance block adjoins the east side of the tower. The structure is built of light brown brick with a plinth of dark red brick, laid in stretcher bond, with concrete floors and roofs. The central tower roof has overhanging eaves.

The central tower has three bays on both its east and west elevations. The west elevation faces the runway and has regular fenestration with three windows to each floor. The east elevation has a projecting central bay containing the stairwell, lit by a large window, with flanking bays containing upper-floor windows and a ground-floor window in the southern bay. The north and south elevations of the tower each have a pair of windows flanking glazed doors providing access to the flat roofs of the adjoining wings. The principal wings have three window bays. The original Crittall windows were replaced with sympathetic metal replacements in the early 2000s, though the glazing to the observation platform remains original. Original metal railings surround the flat roofs of the tower and principal wings. The main entrance, located to the rear of the northern wing, is approached through a porch with a concrete canopy and piers, and retains the original three-panel double doors and glazed internal doors.

The interior largely retains its original layout, although suspended ceilings have been introduced throughout the corridors and other spaces. The main entrance gives onto a corridor running the length of the building. The northern wing contains two front rooms—one housing GPO equipment and one the monitor room—with a rest room and female lavatory to the rear. The front half of the main tower contained the radio equipment room, with officers' lavatory, signals workshop, and staircase positioned to the rear. The left wing contained ancillary rooms accessed from an external entrance, with the main medium voltage switchgear room at the rear, accessed via a steel door, and a roofless transformer enclosure with steel gates containing switchgear and transformer. The small south wing housed a ventilating plant room and pyro store.

Within the tower, concrete stairs with metal banisters and a brass handrail ascend to the first floor, which was originally largely occupied by the radar control room. Double doors open onto the flat roofs of the east and west wings. Other first-floor rooms comprised a rest room and the Senior Air Traffic Control Officer's (SATCO) office. A rear stairwell contains a steep steel ladder leading to the visual control room, which retains its sound-proof tiles and under-window wood-clad heating ducts.