Building record 7756/11 - Jodrell Bank Observatory: Electrical Workshop

<1> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 1444238 (Web Site). SCH6528.

The Electrical Workshop was originally known as the Main Office, and was completed in 1949 as part of a suite of similar buildings arranged around the part of the site known as The Green. The buildings around The Green were the hub of both research and teaching onsite. The construction of these new buildings marked a serious commitment by the University to the development of a permanent radio observatory at the Jodrell Bank site, and they are the earliest surviving purpose-built structures for that use. This was the site of the library, lecture room and (Sir) Bernard Lovell’s office, until c1957 and the completion of the Control Building. Some of the earliest international discussions on the new science of radio astronomy were held in the lecture room (for example a symposium in July 1953 attended by more than 40 radio astronomers from around the world), and this was the key administrative and teaching building in the early years of the observatory. It was also from his office here that Lovell planned and co-ordinated the extraordinary achievement of the construction of the radio telescope that bears his name (List entry 1221685).

Following the opening of the Control Building (List entry 1443868), the former main office became an electrical workshop, and some of the internal partitions have been realigned, but the linear edgings in the parquet floor indicate their original positions. The concrete canopy over the western entrance that is visible in a photograph of the 1950s has been removed, and minor modifications have been made in the north-east corner to allow access to the 1970s timber building to the rear (east), now used as a cryogenics workshop (not included).

<2> Chris Blandford Associates, 2016, Jodrell Bank Observatory, Conservation Management Plan (Client Report). SCH8560.