Former 'Government Communications Radio Station', 309 Gilnahirk Road, Ballyhanwood, Belfast, Co Down, BT5 7SL

Former Government Communications Radio Station

This is a large sprawling government office building constructed in 1951–52 in the Modern Movement style, now vacant. It is located on a rise in rural surroundings close to the junction of Gilnahirk Road and Lisleen Road East, just beyond the south-eastern suburbs of East Belfast.

The building comprises a largely two-storey front wing facing west with long single-storey wings of differing size stretching eastwards and linked by a transverse north-south portion. The centre wing is broader than the other two, while the south wing was extended to the east around 1975–80, which affected the original symmetry of the plan form. The structure features a brown brick façade with a flat roof throughout, though roof levels vary in height across different sections. Windows are largely uniform with metal frames, generally mullioned and transomed.

The front elevation is symmetrical, consisting of the two-storey west wing with projecting single-storey blocks at either end. The main entrance features a central timber double door with an incised geometric Greek key-like pattern. Above it is a squat rectangular fanlight with metal grille bearing a similar pattern. The door is encased by projecting concrete piers (finished to resemble dressed stone) supporting a projecting flat concrete roof and concrete threshold. On either side of the doorway are rows of six identical metal-framed windows with slender concrete sill and lintel courses. Directly above the doorway on the first floor is a square window with bevelled concrete surround and multi-paned frame with what appears to be toughened semi-opaque glazing. To either side are three very small, widely spaced almost porthole-like windows (square with curved corners) with concrete surrounds and top-hung multi-paned frames. A flagpole rises above the central window. The west faces of the single-storey outer blocks are blank.

The rear east façade of the front wing contains a large central projecting bay rising slightly above first floor level. The bay appears to have three relatively squat large windows at first floor level and three larger windows above, with a single large window on both the north and south faces at first floor level. To either side of the bay the main wing has two large windows. The bay may house water tanks on its upper level.

The south elevation comprises the south wing and the south face of the outer block of the front wing, which has three ground-floor windows and one very large window to the upper floor. The south wing is single-storey with the ground floor set at a relatively high level. A timber and glazed door to the far left is reached by short steps. To its right are seven windows similar to those on the ground floor front, with a long lean-to structure in corrugated iron beneath them, possibly used as a bicycle or motorcycle shelter. Beyond this are two plain sheeted doorways with large window-like fanlights and a broad high-level window. The eastern extension added around 1975–80 is distinguished by brick of a marginally different shade of brown and features a recessed partly glazed door, three large windows, and a high-level partly glazed doorway between the second and third windows. To the far right a single relatively small window appears in another recessed section. The very short east façade of the south wing contains one relatively large window.

The north-facing portion of the south wing is visible to the left, showing four large windows at ground level before the transverse wing abuts the structure. The central wing is somewhat broader than the north or south wings but roughly the same length as the south wing. To the right of the transverse wing, the south face of the central wing has six large windows, with a mirrored arrangement on the north façade. The short east façade of this wing has two windows of differing size and a doorway.

The north elevation comprises the north wing with the north face of the north projecting front block to the right. The north façade of the north wing has two windows to the far left, then a small porch projection with partly glazed door, followed by a row of seven largely uniform windows. The north face of the front projecting block has three windows of differing size (one boarded up), a broad doorway now largely open but originally boarded, and a narrower boarded-up doorway to the far right. The short east façade of the north wing is blank.

The transverse wing's east façade (stretching between the south and centre wings) has a large window with a much smaller one to its right. The section between the centre and north wings has two large windows with a smaller one. Where visible, roof lights are interspersed across the flat asphalt-covered roof, with a large gabled roof light at the west end of the central wing. A tall battered brick chimneystack rises from approximately the centre point of the south wing, marking the location of the boiler house.

The setting includes considerable open space to the north, east and west, largely grass-covered, with a broad tarmac drive to the immediate west and a large tarmac space to the east. The front elevation is partially obscured by shrub growth. A small single-storey flat-roofed structure in matching brick stands to the north-west, possibly a store or electricity generator house, with a similarly styled security guard's office beyond it on the opposite side of the main drive.