The Beehive (Former Combined Terminal And Control Tower)

The Beehive, formerly a combined terminal and control tower, is now used as staff rest rooms and offices. Built between 1934 and 1936 by the architectural firm Hoar, Marlow and Lovett for Morris Jackaman, it features a reinforced concrete structure with a steel frame and brick infill. The building has a circular plan with concentric circles of rooms and corridors, and consists of one, two, and three storeys.

The exterior includes an outer single-storey section with doorways and mainly four-light windows spaced at intervals. The first floor rises behind this section, featuring windows at various intervals and a section of continuous glazing. At the center, the former control tower is distinguished by glazing all around, slanted at 60 degrees to the floor.

Inside, surrounding the central drum that originally housed the control tower, meteorological offices, a post office, and a shop, is a two-storey corridor designed for passenger circulation and baggage handling, along with a double staircase. The first floor contained a restaurant with offices below. Passengers would have arrived and departed through six telescopic corridors, which are no longer in existence, that extended on rails to the aircraft steps.

The Beehive is significant in the history of British aviation and world airport design, representing a rare collaboration between airport owners and architects focused on passenger comfort in terminal building design.