Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Orford ... - English Heritage

The southern part of the chamber was the preparation area. It was originally sealed at the southern
end by wooden doors. Subsequently crude steel framed doors have been attached to the exterior
of the building. At eaves height three reinforced concrete tie beams support L shaped brackets for
an overhead lifting beam which extended out into the external canopy area. The later steel doors
have a cutout to accomodate this beam. The area was lit by fluorescent tubes and there are the
remains of a secondary lighting system. On the walls to either side are the remains of cable ducting
and small bore conduits for electical sockets. On the east wall there are also large diameter duct
pipes probably for warm air. A passage to the west leads through to an attached switch room (below).
To the north is the large insulated chamber with a suspended floor carried on four concrete dwarf
walls. The northern part of the chamber was originally separated from the southern section by an
Expandomesh and plaster wall, remains of which are still in situ, which had a large metal door carried
on an overhead rail whose mounting brackets remain, the door slid westwards into a slot in the access
corridor to the small switch room to the west. The door to the north chamber remains but has
been dislodged. Scattered remains of cork insulation board cover the areaIn the northwest corner a
large access corridor leads west into Condense Pump House(see below). Fixed to the wall of the
main chamber are various small bore water pipes and electrical conduits. On the rear wall of the
chamber in the lower east corner is a large bore pipe that probably leads to an external vent. Also
on the rear wall are two enclosed magazine type lights and the remains of two gauges with labels
‘TRYCHLORETHYLENE STRAINER INLET’ and ‘TRYCHLOROETHYLENE STRAINER OUTLET’.
The northern part of this chamber and the plant room to the west was badly damaged by fire when
it was hit by a stray missile during explosive ordnance disposal work (pers comm Grant Lohoar NT).
On the west side of the Laboratory is the Condense Pump House 128, this is a large rectangular
reinforced concrete building, 16.98m (55ft 8ins)by 6.30m (20ft 8ins)and 4.30m (14ft
0ins) high). It comprises two self-contained rooms, to the south a small switch room and
to the north the main plant chamber, both of which connect through to the main chamber
The small electrical switch room to the south is entered from the passageway contained the sliding
door to the northern part of the chamber. From the exterior, to the west, it was entered
through a pair of double outward opening doors, which were protected by a later brick porch,
opening was later sealed by a crude steel grating. A second set of outward opening wooden
doors were also attached to the outward end of the porch. The room contains the remains
of electrical switch gear and metal cable ducting, probably from monitoring equipment. The
room was lit by enclosed electrical bulbs and a red pipe probably carried a CO2 fire suppressant
system. An air conditioning duct runs longitudinally down the centre of the room. At the
east end of the room the single door giving access into the main laboratory is aluminium clad.
The large plant room of the Condense Pump House was entered from the outside through a pair
of outward opening wooden doors and was originally lit by two rectangular window in the west
wall subsequently blocked in brick. To the south of the door opening is a frame that probably held
carbon dioxide bottles for the fire suppressant system. Internally, are the remains of a large cooling
plant on the north wall, with three vents to roof. There are also a number of concrete mounting
blocks of various sizes and cable ducts in the floor. In the southwest corner is a large electrical
switch box with several signs, including ‘LIGHTING’, ‘PLANT ROOM FANS AND PUMP’, ‘CALORI-
FIER PUMP’, ‘EXHAUST FAN’, and ‘UNIT HEATER’. Still attached to its walls are various small bore
pipes, electrical conduits, box section cable ducts, lights and switches. In the north corner a large
corridor runs eastwards to the northern end of the main chamber, the floor level of this corridor is
the same as the lower floor level in the main chamber and reached by three steps down from the
plant room. Externally on the north side of the Plant Room is a cast concrete flanking wall retain-