Marconi Radio - Chelmsford, Nov 2009 Contains HDR

History

Chelmsford’s New Street Marconi factory was built in 1912, 14 years after the establishment of Marconi’s first factory in the town, at Hall Street. The most notable feature of this early factory aon New St; were two radio masts, 137m high. The factory is credited with being the world’s first purpose-built radio factory, giving Chelmsford the worthy title of: ‘Home of the radio’.
I believe the Art-Deco building which dominates the site was built in the early 1930s during a period of massive growth for the firm.
In 1999 the defence arm of Marconi was bought by British Aerospace to form BA systems, who still occupy the new building to the west of the site. Evidence I found inside the building suggests that operations at the New St factory were consequently reduced in 1999/2000; however I have found little interweb information to support this. In 2008 the last occupants of the site: Selex Communications moved out, ending nearly 100 years of communications industry on the site.

Future

Sadly only 4 of the buildings on site: The 1912 New St building, New St Cottages, The powerhouse and water tower are listed. Consequently the future looks rather grim for the massive art-deco factory, with development work to begin in 2010. No prizes for guessing what the fate of the site will be!

Anyway on with the pictures, enjoy:

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The Kaiser said:

Nice work, glad you got inside mate.
However I will say that your history looks remarkably familiar...

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vmlopes said:

Hey...............that's whay I quoted it thanks for the heads up also..............you forgot to mention that the police use the place for dog training though............:icon_evil

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The Kaiser said:

Mind you I've noticed an error in my history , the art deco bit was from the late 30s, not early 30s!
Mehh, dog training! Everywhere says that, been there twice, never seen dogs. I reckon those notices are fake.

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klempner69 said:

HDR or not,I like these very much...as always VML,you dont disappoint.

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godzilla73 said:

oooh! Tasty! I feel a trip to South Woodham Ferrers come on to visit the old experimental radar station.What about it vmlopes?

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