Air Traffic Control Tower, Aberdeen International Airport, Dyce, Aberdeen

Description

Built in 1978 and designed as a collaboration between architects McAlister Armstrong and Partners and structural engineers Sir Frederick Snow & Partners, Aberdeen International Airport Air Traffic Control Tower is an operational control tower constructed with a reinforced concrete structural frame and floors comprising alternating horizontal bands of glazing, and angled, precast concrete panel sections of cladding. It is located around 100m inside the airfield perimeter fence on the west side of the airfield, between the main taxiway and the CHC Helicopters base.

The tower is 22m tall and invokes the form of a ziggurat, a stepped pyramidal building. At ground floor level, there is a concrete base course but otherwise this is largely glazed. There is also a flat-roofed, metal-clad canopy at ground floor level on the east elevation. The next floor levels gradually reduce in size, stepping back at each floor on three sides to create a balcony, with a walkway and painted steel frame railings. By contrast, the southwest elevation is near vertical. A glazed, steel-framed octagonal Visual Control Room sits atop the tower, with unobstructed views on all sides over the entire airfield and its approaches. The glazing of the control tower has been upgraded (2005).

The control tower is formed over six floors arranged around a central twin stair and lift shaft. Distinct functions occupy each level of the building. The interior room layout, and fixtures and fittings have all been incrementally altered and updated in line with ongoing operational requirements.

Telecommunications and other aerials and equipment are mounted on the roof of the Visual Control Room and on the balcony steel frame railings. This equipment is not original, being subject to regular upgrade to meet developing operational and technological requirements and changes in regulatory requirements.

Located adjacent to the main tower on the north-west side are two ancillary buildings that are excluded from the listing. The first is a rectangular podium block containing plant. The second is an enclosed garage to the north of the complex that has been altered from an open car port.

Historical development

An aerodrome at Dyce first opened in 1934 linking the northern islands of Scotland with London under the operation of Aberdeen Airways Ltd. This was located on the east side of the existing runway, close to Dyce railway station. At the beginning of the Second World War, Dyce was officially taken over by the Royal Air Force becoming RAF Dyce. The RAF developed camp and logistical facilities to the west of the runway.

Civilian flights resumed normal operations in 1946 when the aerodrome came under the control of British European Airways. During the 1950s runways were extended and facilities improved at the East Side, including the original airport terminal which was situated where the Bond Offshore Helicopter Terminal 2 is currently located (2023).

The airfield then went through a relatively quiet period before the discovery of North Sea oil in the late 1960s. Helicopter operations began in 1967, linking the growing number of oil platforms to the mainland. In 1972, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) took control of the airport and work began on a helicopter port and the development of the western side of the airport. As Aberdeen became the largest oil-related centre in Europe, the airport became the world's largest commercial heliport.

The British Airports Authority (BAA) took over the airport in 1975 and began to develop its facilities. As a result of this expansion, virtually nothing remains from the war era. A new terminal building designed by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners opened in 1979. In 1978 work began on the construction of a new air traffic control tower for the Civil Aviation Authority. The contractors were William Tawse Limited civil engineers and Alexander Hall & Son builders (Aberdeen Press and Journal 20 January 1981). The building was operational by 1980 and replaced the original second world war control tower located to the south of the current tower. The second world war tower no longer survives.

AGS Airports Ltd took over the running of Aberdeen International Airport in 2014. Aberdeen Airport handled 2.1 million passengers in 2022, including 360,000 helicopter passengers. Helicopters account for almost half of all aircraft movements at the airport.

Statement of Interest

Aberdeen International Airport Air Traffic control Tower meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

Aberdeen International Airport Air Traffic Control Tower is an architecturally distinctive example of a UK air traffic control tower built in the post-war era.

Although the control tower is a relatively common building type, the stepped ziggurat exterior design is highly unusual and is notable for how the design and use of contemporary modern materials is combined with the technical and functional needs of the airport facility.

This operational control tower occupies a visually prominent setting on the west side of the airport at a location which allows unobstructed views from the Visual Control Room over crucial areas of airfield operations, including the aprons, taxiways and runways. The Air Traffic Control Tower is a key component of a group of functionally related airport buildings has been added to over time from the 1970s onwards.

Aberdeen International Airport Air Traffic Control Tower is of social historical interest for the role it has played and continues to play in servicing the offshore oil and gas industry in the North Sea throughout much of the lifetime of the industry. Buildings with a tangible connection to the development of the North Sea offshore oil and gas industry are rare.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the interior of the control tower, and the adjacent podium block and enclosed garage to the north of the main air traffic control building.

Architectural interest

Design

Aberdeen International Airport Air Traffic Control Tower is an architecturally distinctive example of a UK post war air traffic control tower built in the 1970s.

The tower was designed as a collaboration between McAlister Armstrong & Partners Ltd. and Sir Frederick Snow & Partners Ltd. Snow was a British structural engineer known for his achievements in the aviation industry, including Gatwick Airport (Russo 2015). McAlister Armstrong and Partners specialised in aviation architecture and were responsible for designs at Belfast, London Luton, Shannon, Cardiff, Dublin, as well as at airports in mainland Europe and the USA (Belfast Telegraph 3 December 2013).

The Aberdeen Air Traffic Control Tower demonstrates innovation in the building type through its design. It went beyond previous conventions by moving away from the standard rectangular Second World War buildings (Crail LB50552, listed at category A), modular towers incorporating possible wartime elements (Glasgow Airport), and rectangular post-war designs (Prestwick Airport). These examples have simple forms largely without architectural detailing, illustrating the trend that airports are generally built for function over style (Russo 2015).

The octagonal plan form of the Visual Control Room at the top of Aberdeen Air Traffic Control Tower is a standard design for this component part of a control tower. The periodic upgrading of the glazing is a consequence of the need to ensure that the building meets up-to-date technical standards and regulations, as is also true of the upgrading of external telecommunications and other aerials mounted on the exterior.

However, the square plan form of the main section of the building which steps back at each floor level and with a three-sided ziggurat profile, is highly unusual for this building type. The stepped profile ensures that the building offers unobstructed views over the airfield and provides sufficient floor space within the available parcel of land, to service the full range of air traffic control functions, from visual control of the airfield to radar surveillance of aircraft from the North Sea to Shetland (NATS 1984). It achieves this without affecting the 1:7 transitional slope required to avoid obstructing the protected surfaces of the airfield that prevent collision between aircraft and built structures.

While these considerations are largely practical, the building also shows design interest through its need for functionality. Russo (2015: 8) describes a trend whereby, from the Art Deco style towers of the 1930s, to the latest ultra-modern towers of the Middle East, the airport tower came to 'symbolise and define each airport, each community, and each country.' Towers 'were given their own style and characteristics while still reflecting the basic needs of the air traffic controllers'. This trend is evident in towers across the UK, from the Art Deco Beehive (1936) at Gatwick Airport (Historic England list entry 1268327), to modern towers such as the sleek landmark tower opened in 2005 at Edinburgh Airport (Russo 2015, 159).

The largely unaltered external design of Aberdeen Air Traffic Control Tower has been described as 'more assertive' when compared with the main terminal building (Sharples et al. 2015, 267). Russo (2015,155) commented that the building is 'distinctive' following 'the Brutalist style of architecture popular in the 1950s-70s and distinguishable by its raw concrete and fortress-like structures'. Although the function of the buildings and the architects are different, stylistic comparisons may be observed with other roughly contemporary though earlier Aberdeen buildings of stepped ziggurat design such as Norco House (Canmore ID 130643) and the Shell Tullos headquarters (Aberdeen Press and Journal 8 September 2021). However, the architectural tradition of the ziggurat has more ancient and distant origins in the stepped pyramids of Mesopotamia and Mexico (such as El Castillo and Edzna at Chitcen Itsa).

Aberdeen Air Traffic Control Tower makes use of contemporary modern materials, constructed to a high quality in steel and concrete. The angled pre-cast concrete panels are bespoke, and they have been designed to emphasise the building's ziggurat form. Each pre-cast concrete panel has a slightly canted or sloping angle to form three surfaces. The sloping pattern is inversely orientated to the side elevations creating a dynamic exterior profile with the effect of streamlined, forward movement.

Shortly after its construction, the building achieved recognition, winning high commendation at the Concrete Society's 1981 awards scheme for the way in which 'the unusual wedding cake design optimises a restricted space at the airport and for the design and execution of its precast concrete elements' (Aberdeen Press and Journal 3 June 1981).

By contrast, the design of the interior and fixed interior decorative schemes is not of special interest in listing terms. The central stair and lift shaft, which is set centrally within the building's footprint, is original and largely unaltered, however, the design and placement is not unusual or exceptional. Otherwise, the interior retains few surviving original fixtures and fittings as the building has adapted to changing operational requirements.

The construction and design of the adjacent podium block is entirely functional and utilitarian, without any design interest in listing terms. The same is true of the nearby enclosed garage building which is substantially altered from the original open car port.

Setting

The Air Traffic Control Tower is a key operational building within Aberdeen International Airport following its expansion in the 1970s and it remains integral to airport operations and the safety and security of passengers, air traffic, and helicopter operations across the North Sea.

The choice of location of the tower is due to functional requirements, including a requirement for unobstructed views from the Visual Control Room, of crucial areas of airfield operations such as aprons, taxiways, and runways, including the main runway which is orientated on an NNW-SSE axis.

The location of the building also conforms to statutory requirements under civil aviation regulations that built structures must not infringe safety-critical protected surfaces, otherwise risking collision by aircraft.

The Air Traffic Control Tower is an important component of a wider group of airport buildings arising from development of the airfield from the 1970s. This group also includes the terminal building, and ancillary buildings such as aircraft hangars. While this grouping is not unusual for air traffic control towers, it still provides a context for our understanding of the building.

Historic interest

Age and rarity

There are (2023) currently approximately 125 operational airfields in Scotland. These range from small field airstrips to 38 larger aerodromes that include the four main civilian commercial airports of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Prestwick (https://ourairports.com/countries/GB/SCT/). As buildings used for the function of air traffic control are a common feature of operational airfields, this building type is not an especially rare survival.

Aberdeen International Airport Air Traffic Control Tower dates to the late 1970s. This recent date is also common for air traffic control towers at major civilian airports given that aviation is a relatively new industry that has expanded rapidly for commercial and private purposes since the 1960s. A significant number of the towers at major UK civilian airports are replacements (for example the 2005 Edinburgh Airport tower) for earlier demolished towers as technological and operational requirements have evolved.

The air traffic control tower at Aberdeen is rare for its exceptional design interest within the building type. The ziggurat and concrete block design has merited recording in an international publication on aircraft control towers (Russo 2015) and appears to be unique for the building type, contrasting with the more common rectangular or modular towers, and the later skyscraper trend.

No operational control towers in civil airports in the UK are currently listed (2023). However, in Scotland, there are currently 7 listed control towers and one scheduled monument, all dating to the Second World War and no longer in operational use. There is one listed former watch room at former RAF Leuchars (LB51424).

Social historical interest

The development of powered flight is one or humankind's most significant technological advances during the 20^th century, transforming industry and society. Since the 1920s, air traffic control services have performed a crucial role in ensuring that air transport can take place safely and securely.

The construction of a new tower at Aberdeen coincided with a major growth in passenger air transport for business, recreation, and tourism and, at Aberdeen, with the expansion of the airport as a heliport to service the North Sea Oil and Gas industry from the late 1960s. In 2019, Air Traffic Control at Aberdeen was handling 100,000 flights a year (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-45057103).

While our understanding of the cultural significance of the offshore oil and gas industry has to date largely focussed on its political and economic impacts on our society, there is currently less recognition of its legacy as seen through the surviving buildings and structures with a tangible connection to North Sea oil and gas (Oglethorpe 2021).

Aberdeen International Airport Air Traffic Control Tower is therefore of social historical interest for the way it contributes to our understanding of the role of the control tower at Aberdeen Airport in the safe and secure transport of personnel for the offshore oil and gas industry. In addition to providing visual control over both fixed wing and helicopter movements on the airfield itself and its approaches, air traffic controllers operating from this tower have continued to provide air traffic services to commercial helicopters over about 7000 square miles of the northern North Sea, throughout much of the lifetime of the North Sea Oil and Gas industry. During the 1980s, up to ninety helicopters for North Sea operations were based at Aberdeen at any time, with daily operations servicing around 20,000 personnel on 200 drilling rigs, oil production platforms and support vessels in all weathers (NATS 1984).

Association with people or events of national importance

No associations have been identified with a person(s) or event of national importance.

Other information

The concrete panels are currently (2023) unpainted but heavily weathered.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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