Adastral Park
Encyclopedia
Martlesham Heath
Martlesham Heath village is situated 6 miles east of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield...
near Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
.
When the site opened it was known as the Post Office Research Station
Post Office Research Station
The Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill, London, was first established in 1921 and opened by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald in 1933.In 1943 the world's first programmable electronic computer, Colossus Mark 1 was built by Tommy Flowers and his team, followed in 1944 and 1945 by nine...
, but it was subsequently renamed BT Research Laboratories or BT Labs and later Adastral Park to reflect an expansion in the organisations and activities co-located with BT Labs at the campus.
Description
Initially research was carried out into postal sorting and delivery technology and telecommunications. After the Post OfficePost Office Ltd.
Post Office Ltd is a retail post office company in the United Kingdom that provides a wide range of products including postage stamps and banking to the public through its nationwide network of post office branches.-Structure:Post Office Ltd...
was split apart prior to British Telecom's privatisation in the early 1980, the research concentrated on telecommunications.
In keeping with the stellar theme of the site name, buildings on site are named after stars or constellations (an example being the Main Laboratory Block now named the Orion building). The Orion building is easily recognisable from the nearby A12 road with its 200 ft. radio tower (now named Pegasus tower) dominating the skyline.
The change to the current name occurred in the late 1990s with the aim of turning the site into a high technology business park no longer exclusively for the use of BT. The name was created by Stewart Davies, the CEO of the BT business (BT Exact Technologies) headquartered at the site at that time. It is derived from the motto of the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
– per ardua ad astra – through adversity to the stars. The Royal Air Force were prior residents of the site, as RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force airfield in England. The field is located 1½ miles SW of Woodbridge, Suffolk.- RFC/RAF prewar use:Martlesham Heath was first used as a Royal Flying Corps airfield during World War I...
. Experimental aircraft test flights flew from the airfield and the name was meant to reflect the history of experimentation and innovation which is the continuing focus for the Park. Fundamental to the successful growth and development of a technology community is the co-location and access to world class postgraduate research. In March 2001, University College London, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, chose Adastral Park to set up the first ever postgraduate research and teaching centre on an industrial campus. During the transformation of the Park many of the old buildings were removed and during the landscaping, car parks were moved to the perimeter of the site with the centre being transformed with open park land and a water feature to provide a 'park' feel to the complex. The site accommodates approximately 4000 people.
Companies based at Adastral Park besides BT include:
- Alcatel-LucentAlcatel-LucentAlcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...
- AzureAzureIn heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation....
- CiscoCiscoCisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
- FujitsuFujitsuis a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
- O2 plcO2 plcTelefónica Europe plc is a European broadband and telecommunications company that trades as O2 . The company originated as a collection of worldwide telecommunications companies, known in the later half of the 1990s as BT Wireless, and a global mobile data business known then as Genie Internet,...
- ArqivaArqivaArqiva is a telecommunications company which provides infrastructure and broadcast transmission facilities in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The present company, with headquarters located at Crawley Court in the village of Crawley, Hampshire, was formed by National Grid Wireless...
- CIP
When the name change to Adastral Park first came in, there was a little controversy. A BT contractor, Richard Hayman made a grab for the adastralpark domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
, and tried to sell it to BT at an inflated price. BT refused to yield and dismissed the contractor. In return, the contractor set up a low-brow dating site using the domain.
There is also a satellite earth station (operated by Arqiva) - the location was chosen for the visibility of satellites on the eastern horizon.
The original Laboratories (when BT were part of the Post Office
Post Office Ltd.
Post Office Ltd is a retail post office company in the United Kingdom that provides a wide range of products including postage stamps and banking to the public through its nationwide network of post office branches.-Structure:Post Office Ltd...
) were first opened by Elizabeth II in 1975. Prior to this the Post Office Research Station
Post Office Research Station
The Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill, London, was first established in 1921 and opened by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald in 1933.In 1943 the world's first programmable electronic computer, Colossus Mark 1 was built by Tommy Flowers and his team, followed in 1944 and 1945 by nine...
was located at Dollis Hill
Dollis Hill
Dollis Hill is an area of north-west London. It lies close to Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent. As a result, Dollis Hill is sometimes referred as being part of Willesden, especially by the national press...
. Martlesham Heath was originally chosen as the location for a research facility because the surrounding countryside was relatively flat and therefore ideal for testing the radio-based communication systems in vogue at the time. See also Martlesham Heath
Martlesham Heath
Martlesham Heath village is situated 6 miles east of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield...
where further history of the site and surrounding area can be found.
Adastral New Town
Over many years BT have put forward various proposals and plans to expand the business park activities. In June 2001, a framework for expanding the business park was created, but it was not linked to building any residential housing on the site. At the time BT forecast 3000–3500 additional jobs by about 2010. As recently as 2007, BT said that they could develop the business park without the need for the income from selling land for housing.In 2006, Suffolk Coastal
Suffolk Coastal
Suffolk Coastal is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council is based in Woodbridge. Other towns include Felixstowe.The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the municipal borough of Aldeburgh, along with Felixstowe,...
District Council
District council
District council may refer to:*A Town council, a unit of local government in many jurisdictions*A branch of the Local government in the United Kingdom:**Supervising one of the Districts of England:***A Metropolitan borough***A Non-metropolitan district...
(SCDC) rejected a planning application for 120 log cabins on a site next to Waldringfield Road. The rejection was on the grounds that it was too near the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
amongst other reasons, and would result in an unacceptable increase in visitor numbers to a sensitive areas. BT initially objected on the grounds that it would interfere with their radio test area, although BT subsequently withdrew their objection provided the developer created a protective earth bund, rejected by SCDC.
BT subsequently lodged a planning application for 2000 houses to be built. At its closest the site comes within 88 metres (288.7 ft) of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
,, and there are several sites of special status close by, such as Newbourne Springs. The proposed development could house about 4800 people. SCDC say that by creating an area of greenspace within the development and employing a warden this will divert people from entering the nearby AONB and sensitive areas.
External links
- Adastral Park home page
- Connected Earth Museum on the origin of BT Laboratories, Martlesham
- Coverage from theregister.co.uk on domain grab
- Further coverage on domain grab
- No to Adastral New Town
- Press coverage over Adastral New Town