Building 54 (Watch Office with Tower)

This is an airfield watch office with a tower, built in 1935 to a design from 1934 by the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings, based on drawing number 1959/34. The building is constructed with brick facing on a reinforced concrete frame, with flat roofs finished in asphalt.

The main structure is a square, flat-roofed building with a smaller, square tower rising two additional storeys in the centre. The ground floor contains the main watch office, a rest room, and latrines. A tight spiral stair rises from the latrines to an observation room on the tower’s upper level. Both the lower and upper levels have flat roof decks; the lower has a raised brick parapet, and the upper a parapet with a safety railing.

The exterior features steel casements. The lower floor has glazing across its full width, with a single light returned at each end, smaller lights to the other fronts, and a door with an overlight to the rear (north) and west sides. The upper level is fully glazed. A small plinth and continuous frieze bands with projecting toes are visible at roof levels.

Inside, original iron stairs lead to the top floor, along with original doors and joinery.

A related single-storey structure, Building 53, stands to the rear (north). It is similar in style, with a flat roof, frieze band, steel casements to the side walls, and half-glazed double doors to the west end.

This watch office represents a well-preserved example of the new tower designs introduced in 1934, which marked significant changes in the management and design of military airfields. A total of 41 of these towers were built, with most constructed in reinforced concrete after 1936. The presence of this tower alongside an earlier watch office, representing an earlier phase in airfield development, is unique in Britain. Developments in radio communication and the need to organize the airfield into distinct zones for take-off, landing, and taxiing led to the evolution of control towers from simple duty pilot’s watch offices to the 1934 tower design, integrating traffic control and weather monitoring.