Air-Raid Precaution Railway Control Centre

Air-raid precaution railway control centre, built in 1954, adapted for use as a commercial store in the late C20.

MATERIALS: reinforced concrete.

PLAN: rectangular in plan, based on standard Type ‘L’ drawing (1384/53).

EXTERIOR: the former air-raid precaution railway control centre is a single-storey rectangular-plan building, constructed of reinforced concrete. The roof is flat and has a tall cylindrical metal ventilation shaft near its south corner. The building has a single door to a baffle (staggered double entrance cell) at the north end of the north-east elevation, and south end of the south-west elevation. Each entrance is protected by a standalone blast wall to the exterior; the space between the south blast wall and baffle was infilled by a toilet in the late C20. A square-headed opening was broken through the south-east elevation into the former ‘Generator & Ventilation’ room in the late C20, and a sliding metal door introduced. The building measures approximately 11m in width and 29m in length. It stands to the south-east side of the south-east platform of Bricket Wood railway station.

INTERIOR: the interior conforms to the standard Type ‘L’ plan (1384/53), with baffles (staggered double entrance cells) occupying the north and south corners; a battery room, apparatus and telephone room, and generator and ventilation room along the south-east side; and a control room, DE [District Engineer?] and ST [Signals & Telegraph Engineer?] room, assistants room, and District Operating Superintendent (DOS) and assistants room along the north-west side. The walls and ceilings are constructed of shuttered concrete, and the floors of poured concrete. The reinforced concrete walls are 2ft (0.6m) thick, with some internal partition walls being 1ft thick. Each of the two baffles retains splinter-proof steel doors, and vent flanges survive on the wall inside the south air-lock. The majority of rooms retain rectangular holes for exhaust vents, however these do not appear to have been fitted out. The internal lighting was replaced in the late C20.