BUILDINGS 10, 20, 30, 50, 60 AND 70 FORMER BARRACKS

BUILDINGS 10, 20, 30, 50, 60 AND 70 FORMER BARRACKS, CHURCHILL SQUARE, WEST MALLING

A group of six airmen's barracks blocks arranged around a square, now in commercial use. Built in 1939 to a 1938 design by J. H. Binge of the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings (drawing numbers 1132 and 11587/38).

STRUCTURE AND MATERIALS

The blocks are constructed with reinforced concrete floors and roof supported on stretcher bond cavity walls. The roof finish is not visible, though originally asphalt.

PLAN AND LAYOUT

Each block comprises a two-storey compact H-plan accommodation for four NCOs and sixty-four airmen. The central entrance to each wing leads to a central open-well staircase with internal corridors running either side, containing rooms accessed from both sides. Further staircases occur at the junctions with the cross wing, which also contains service facilities including a utility room.

EXTERIOR

The windows are predominantly steel 10-pane vertical casements to the wings, with some horizontal units to the cross wing. These are set within continuous thin concrete lintel and sill bands. The outer fronts of the wings display a 2:5:2-bay pattern, with deep 2-light windows, while the centre section contains 5 bays set between continuous sill and lintel bands. The upper band runs around the entire front, beneath which sits a brick frieze and a square-edged roof overhang. Pairs of panelled doors mark the central entrances (except for replacement doors to Building 60), set within rendered concrete cheeks and topped with a flat canopy. A similar doorway faces away from the parade ground, but with brick jambs. The short ends of the blocks are plain; the inner faces contain 3 bays with casements matching those to the front, flanking the central link. The centre range spans 7 bays, featuring 2 and 3-light casements set to continuous sills and lintels on one side, with a deep stair light and ground-floor doors at the second and sixth bays on the other. Small vents are built into the brickwork at mid and eaves levels throughout.

INTERIOR

Original joinery survives, including panelled doors. The principal internal space is the central entrance lobby and hall. The hall contains solid string concrete staircases finished in terrazzo, with hardwood swept handrails mounted on steel Art Deco balustrades.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

These are among the best-preserved Art Deco-influenced barracks in the country, planned in a collegiate manner with the Institute positioned at their head. From 1938, new RAF buildings and stations including Middle Wallop and West Malling increasingly employed concrete and flat roofs to accelerate construction and mitigate the effects of shrapnel and incendiary bombs. The planning of these barracks responded directly to demands for improved accommodation standards on military airfields, including the provision of sitting rooms. The designs feature marked horizontal elevations and Art Deco detailing that present a consciously modern style. The flat-roofed buildings arranged around Churchill Square are the best-preserved group of their type in the country, further enhanced by the historical importance of the fighter base itself.

West Malling was opened as a fighter station in June 1940, following use of the area from 1930 by the Maidstone School of Flying as a private landing ground (registered as Maidstone airport in 1932). As a satellite of Biggin Hill within Fighter Command's strategically critical 11 Group, the station suffered a series of raids in August and September 1940 that rendered it unserviceable for much of the Battle of Britain. It reopened in October 1940, though only accepted a full station complement in April 1941. It then became a nightfighter station, its Bristol Beaufighter pilots including Guy Gibson and Don Parker—both later renowned in Bomber Command, Gibson notably for leading 617 Squadron in the Dams Raid and other precision attacks. The airfield subsequently operated Mosquitos and Typhoons in operations against occupied Europe, including support for D-Day operations, and became the principal station during Operation Diver in 1944—the defence of the east and south-eastern coasts against V1 bomb attacks. West Malling is significant in this context as the only fighter station associated with Operation Diver that has survived in sufficiently complete state of preservation to merit listing; other key London area sites—Northolt, Biggin Hill, and Kenley—were placed behind balloon barrages erected for the operation.

After the war, West Malling became the main rehabilitation centre for prisoners of war returning from Germany. The base entered care and maintenance in August 1960 and was acquired by Kent County Council in 1970. In 1972 it became a centre for dispossessed Ugandan Asians; subsequently, major buildings including the Officers' Mess and Building 60 were adapted for Local Authority use, whilst others were retained and incorporated into a larger commercial park.