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

To support the functions of this building it was equipped with large plant rooms. Set
into the western side of the shingle traverse is the Condense Pump House 128 a large
reinforced concrete building 16.98m (55ft 8in) by 6.3m (20ft 8in). It is divided into two
rooms. To the south is a small switch room, which may be entered through double
external doors as well as from the main chamber along the corridor for the sliding
door. The other chamber is larger and housed air conditioning and plant, it too could be
entered through external doors or from the main chamber. Outside of its entrance is
a support for four gas cylinders that probably held carbon dioxide bottles as part of the
building’s fire suppressant system. On the northwest corner of the building are a series
of small rooms that held various pieces of plant and toilet cubicles.
Figure 29: Laboratory 1, F3/123, to the left is the rear plant room and to the right the main
entrance passage. (c) English Heritage
The third and western most laboratory built during the first construction phase was
Laboratory 1 F3/123 (Figures 29 and 51). It is constructed from reinforced concrete
with a large central bay 30.67m (99ft 9in) by 9.05m (29ft 9in) oriented roughly east to
west. To increase the available height in the chamber, its A-frame, angle iron roof trusses
are raised 0.6m (2ft) above the tops of the walls. The roof was originally clad with cork
insulation board covered in aluminium sheets and protected by an outer asphalt coat.
Within the roof structure was an internal catwalk to give access to the lighting and large
central cork clad, metal air conditioning duct. Internally, below the tops of the walls
are projecting ledges that supported the rails for an overhead crane. This was used to
manoeuvre test pieces within the building, and for the installation and maintenance of
the centrifuge (see below). To the north and south of the main chamber are side aisles
running the full length of the central chamber. These too have concrete walls but are
roofed with horizontal beams with curved breeze blocks between them; above they are
covered by the shingle mound. Each of the side aisles had an emergency escape exit,
© ENGLISH HERITAGE
44
10 - 2009