Building No 22 (Central Heating Plant)

Central heating plant, fuel store and garaging, 1939. Designed by the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings to drawing number 6217/39.

The building consists of a stark cube of brickwork in Flemish bond with a concrete flat roof covered in asphalt. From the north-east side rises an off-centre, slightly stepped brick shaft containing water tanks. To the rear stands a large enclosure formerly used for coal storage, bounded by high brick walls on a high rendered plinth. This area now contains two oil storage cylinders of 40,000 litres each and a later pair of garages with single-slope roofs.

The power house features steel casements in four lights with pivoting openings on three sides, positioned high on the walls. The water tower has narrow lights above a panelled door set in stepped recessed brick jambs with a small flat concrete hood. To the left are three narrow lights above a wide doorway fitted with louvres. The tower is T-shaped on plan with slight stepped recesses at upper levels, displaying typical Art Deco fashion characteristics.

The interior comprises one large, high space but was not accessible at the time of listing survey in April 1998, when the building remained in its original use.

This building forms a key element in the development of RAF Bicester, a uniquely well-preserved and historically important military airbase. It was grouped with the contemporary Institute and 'H' barracks block at an angle with and north of the earlier buildings. These 1938-type designs, with flat concrete roofs built for protection against incendiary devices, adopted a more consciously modern style than earlier Expansion Period designs. They formed part of the Scheme M contracts placed in November 1938. Bicester is the best-preserved bomber base constructed following Sir Hugh Trenchard's expansion of the RAF from 1923 onwards, based on the philosophy of offensive deterrence. The site retains the layout and fabric relating to both pre-1930s military aviation and the development of Britain's strategic bomber force up to 1939. For much of the Second World War, RAF Bicester functioned as an Operational Training Unit, training Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders as well as British air crews for service in Bomber Command.