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The Farnborough Wind Tunnels:

Three historic buildings and five windtunnels

Background

In the middle of the Farnborough Business Park there are three listed buildings which are historically important in themselves but equally importantly, they contain five windtunnels, all of which a central role in the development of aviation in Britain.

In mid-2005 Slough Estates (which owns the buildings) announced that three of the windtunnels were suitable for re-use and would be available for commercial use once the restoration of the exteriors of the buildings was complete.

So far, there are two proposals; a project sponsored by the Royal Aeronautical Society for The National Aerospace Library in the Q121 building and a project sponsored by FAST for a science-based educational project in R52.

What are they and what do they look like?

The material published on the FAST website in 2005 follows. It contains a good description of the tunnel facilities in a style aimed at technical and commercial people, with facts and figures and layout drawings etc. FAST will be supplementing this with more photos and descriptions in a style more suitable for a general audience.

Also, the results of the restoration work, led by the specialist restoration architectural practice Julian Harrapp Associates are very impressive and there will be many good features to be photographed once the buildings are completely clear of scaffolding. We will be working on this soon.

The 2005 writeup quoted in full....

An Opportunity for Wind Tunnel Operators

Three of the wind tunnels at the former Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough will shortly be available for re-use following recent developments at the site.
Commercial or educational organisations that have a need for a wind tunnel testing facility may find what they want in Farnborough.

The Farnborough Business Park

Slough Estates bought the former Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) ‘factory site’ from the Ministry of Defence when the site was closed in 1999. Slough Estates is now developing the site as Farnborough Business Park.  The site is located between Farnborough town centre and London Farnborough Airport, the venue of the biannual air show, and when completed will provide a prime business location for 1.7 million square feet of offices.
The historic core of the former RAE is being retained  – a 25 acre cluster of wind tunnels and other research buildings, two of which are Grade I listed.  Following consultations with stakeholders such as English Heritage, Rushmoor Borough Council and Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST), Slough Estates has obtained planning consent for a £20 million mixed-use urban development project.
Work on this project has already started and completion is currently scheduled for July 2006. Regeneration of the site includes a public square, restoration of research buildings and possible commercial use of wind tunnels:

•    A new public square, the size of London’s Berkley Square and located at the western end of the site will have a 70 foot high, 250 foot long airship hangar frame as its centrepiece.
•    The restoration of the historic aviation research buildings will cater for a mix of uses such as offices and studio workshops, plus new facilities for a heritage centre, a management centre, café-bar, meeting rooms and a children’s nursery.
•    The  commercial use of the wind tunnels.  The five historic wind tunnels on the site will all be preserved.  Three of these are under investigation, as part of a project with FAST, for possible commercial re-use.  An initial study indicates support for such a demand.
  

Site Plan

Farnborough Business Park Site Plan

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What is on offer

Slough Estates does not intend to become a wind tunnel operator.  On the other hand English Heritage has recognised that the best way to preserve historic buildings is to keep them in use – preferably the use for which they were designed.  Slough Estates is therefore looking for interested parties who may want to operate one or more of the tunnels.

The three tunnels now being made available are:

• The No.1 tunnel – the 24ft low speed tunnel in building Q121
• The No.2 tunnel – the 11½ft x 8½ft low speed tunnel in building R136
• The No.3 tunnel – the 4ft x 3ft low turbulence tunnel in building R52

The No.1 tunnel has already been reserved as the proposed location of the National Aerospace Library, sponsored by the Royal Aeronautical Society.  A further two tunnels on the site, the 8ft x 6ft and the 2ft x 1½ft transonic tunnels, are not thought to have any commercial future.
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The Condition of the Tunnels

Slough Estates’ programme to restore the historic aviation research buildings includes the four buildings that contain the historic wind tunnels. By the end of the programme the exteriors of the four buildings will have been fully refurbished, the services renewed and the surrounding areas landscaped.
However, Slough Estates is not refurbishing the interiors of the buildings: it will be up to individual leaseholders to do this after they have completed any alterations required to accommodate their specific needs.
Most of the major items of equipment associated with the tunnels such as the balances, drive motors, lifts and hoists remain in the buildings.  Removable items such as calibration equipment, model supports and special tools have been catalogued by FAST and have been put in store while the building renovation is in progress.
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Services

All of the services in the Historic Quarter are being renewed as part of Slough Estates’ current programme of work.  Domestic electricity supply  will be connected to all buildings within the Historic Quarter. Other services will be provided but not connected, which gives future wind tunnel operators the freedom to carry out internal works on the tunnel buildings to accommodate any specific needs.

Electrical Power

Slough Estates is installing a new 11kV ring main covering the Historic Quarter.  This will include not only substations for the 433V domestic supply to each building but also a provision for additional substations to supply fan motor power for the wind tunnels.
The primary substation to the Business Park has approximately 3MVA spare capacity available to power the wind tunnel fans.  This power is sufficient to run simultaneously the No.1 and No.3 tunnels at full speed and the No.2 tunnel at 82% of full speed.
It will be possible for wind tunnel operators to increase the power available to the wind tunnels by laying additional circuits from the park’s primary substation.  In preparation, Slough Estates is laying down vacant ducts in the Historic Quarter to allow leaseholders to increase the power supply with minimal disturbance to the hard landscaping.

Compressed Air

The network of compressed air pipes within the buildings remains intact and given testing and certification could be re-used where needed.  The large compressors that supplied compressed air to the site and the air pipes between the buildings are not considered re-usable on economic grounds.  FAST believes that the most effective and economic way to provide compressed air to the wind tunnels will be to use modern semi-portable equipment, either diesel or electric powered.  Slough Estates is erecting hard standing adjacent to the substations of the two large wind tunnel buildings for mobile compressors and other heavy equipment that operators might like to use.
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Gas, Water & Foul Drainage

Slough Estates will lay new gas mains, water mains and foul drains throughout the Historic Quarter.  The mains and drains will be brought close to the exteriors of the wind tunnel buildings, adjacent to areas within the buildings (highlighted on the site plan below in orange) where operators are likely to want to install WCs, kitchens, etc.

Communications and Intranet

A new communications network and intranet will be laid through the Historic Quarter, extending the existing network supplying the remainder of the Farnborough Business Park. The communications providers will be British Telecom and Cable & Wireless.  The intranet will provide complete coverage throughout the business Park and will make it possible to connect each building to the park security offices for CCTV monitoring or to any other building on the site for communications purposes.
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Site plan showing the "Historic Quarter" - the location of the three wind tunnel buildings and layout of services.

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Re-commissioning the wind tunnels

A technical report which gives potential operators in-depth information about the state of the wind tunnels and any work that needs to be done before they can be re-commissioned is available on application to Slough Estates.  The team that produced the report will be able to provide help and information should prospective operators need assistance during the preparations of proposals and business plans.

Operational

There is local expertise in how to operate these tunnels from ex-RAE staff and from QinetiQ, who operate the ex-RAE five metre tunnel on a site close to Farnborough.  FAST holds an archive of drawings and reports which may also be of use to future operators.

Leasing

Slough Estates is offering long-term leases (minimum of 10 years) on each of the wind tunnel buildings.  Leases are negotiable but tenants will be expected to take full repairing and insuring liability.
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For enquiries and further information

please contact:

Stephen Lord, Senior Development Manager
Slough Estates plc
234 Bath Road
Slough
Berkshire SL1 4EE
Tel:     01753 213472
Email:  Stephen.Lord@sloughestates.co.uk

The information above is available in the form of a full colour brochure which you can obtain from Slough Estates or view with Acrobat viewer using the link below.  Please note that the file is large.
Full Colour Brochure in PDF format (2.5 MB)

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