Former Radar School, Albert Edward Pier, The Harbour, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38

Former Radar School

A free-standing octagonal two-stage radar training school erected in 1960 at the end of Albert Edward Pier in Carrickfergus Harbour. The building was designed by Donald Shanks, Principal Architect to Belfast Education Committee, for the Belfast College of Technology's Department of Navigation. A commemorative plaque marking its opening in 1960 was originally present, though its current location is unknown.

The building's distinctive three-dimensional form was driven by its functional requirement for all-round vision within and beyond the harbour. The entire structure is mounted on a circular reinforced-concrete slab supported on a central hollow concrete column, with the floor cantilevered out—a solution similar in principle to airport control towers. This elevated positioning, combined with slightly inclined window panels designed to reduce glare from the sun, creates a unique architectural response to its specialized purpose.

The upper section features glazed timber walls divided into two parts: a 3x3-paned window arrangement in the upper portion separated from a 3x1-paned lower section by a broad timber string band. Each of the eight side walls is glazed timber with a slight inward inclination from top to bottom. A shallow octagonal roof crowns the structure, though the apex is now open to the elements. The roof is understood to be constructed of felt-covered plywood over timber rafters.

Access to the upper section was originally via a footbridge from a concrete stairwell attached to the adjoining pier, this gangway being noted as an addition. A curved steel doorway at the base of the central concrete column provides access to the interior, which presumably contains (or contained) a spiral staircase serving the upper section. A public bench seat originally surrounded the column base but has since been removed. Many windows have been vandalized and the interior is now partly obscured by steel hoarding around the vertical balcony railing.

The building may subsequently have been used by the Navigation School of the University of Ulster at Jordanstown before closing several decades ago. It then passed to Carrickfergus Borough Council and has since been sold to a private developer. The building is of considerable local interest and is believed to be unique in Britain and Ireland as a purpose-built radar training facility of this type. It is currently recorded as derelict and is of industrial archaeological interest.