Former Radar School

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A free-standing octagonal two-stage former radar training school erected by Belfast College of Technology in 1960 at the end of Albert Edward Pier.

The building has a shallow octagonal roof, the apex of which is now open to the elements. Observation from the ground suggests that it is constructed of felt-covered plywood over timber rafters. Each of the eight side walls is of glazed timber, with a slight inward inclination from top to bottom (presumably to reduce any glare from the sun). However, the sides are now partly obscured by a hoarding placed around the vertical steel balcony railing around it. The upper part of each cant has 3x3-paned windows and is separated from the 3x1-paned lower part by a broad timber string band. Many of the windows have been vandalised.

The First Survey record card and photograph note that the upper section was accessed by a footbridge from a concrete stairwell attached to the inside face of the adjoining pier. This gangway is stated to have been an addition. There is presumably a door on the SE cant of the upper section in order to access the interior, but it is now hidden by the hoarding.

The entire building is mounted on a circular reinforced-concrete slab supported on a central hollow concrete column. There is a curved steel doorway at the bottom of this column and there presumably is (or was) a spiral staircase to the upper section inside it. There was originally a bench seat around the base of the column for use by the public, but this has been removed.

Historical information

This building was designed by Donald Shanks, Principal Architect to Belfast Education Committee, as a radar school for the Belfast College of Technology's Department of Navigation. A plaque, the location of which is now unknown (but which is noted on the First Survey record card), commemorates its opening in 1960. It may subsequently have been used by the Navigation School of the University of Ulster at Jordanstown. The facility closed several decades ago and it passed to Carrickfergus Borough Council who has since sold it to a private developer.

References - Secondary Sources:
1. First Survey record card (NIEA file HN22/08/025).
2. Information from Building Services Department, Carrickfergus Borough Council .

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

The three-dimensional form of this building reflects its functional requirement for all-round vision within and beyond the harbour. This requirement has been accentuated by placing the entire building on top of a concrete column with the floor cantilevered out. It is not dissimilar to airport control towers, particularly with respect to its slightly inclined window panels (to reduce glare). It is of local interest and is a unique building in the context of Northern Ireland as it appears to be the only such one anywhere in Britain and Ireland.