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52-539: The Atomic Energy Research Establishment ( AERE ), also known as Harwell Laboratory , was the main centre for atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from 1946 to the 1990s. It was created, owned and funded by the British Government. A number of early research reactors were built here starting with GLEEP in 1947 to provide the underlying science and technology behind

104-534: A Public / Private 50:50 Joint Venture partnership to take forward the management and redevelopment of the campus which has been re-branded as Harwell Oxford. In February 2009, part of the campus, the remaining nuclear licensed site, passed to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and is being decommissioned by Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL, from 2015 part of Magnox Ltd ), on their behalf. Headquarters A headquarters

156-404: A few months to simulate the radiation dose that it would receive over the lifetime of a power reactor. Both reactors were also used for neutron scattering crystallography. They took over commercial isotope production from BEPO after that was shut down. DIDO and PLUTO themselves were shut down in 1990 and the fuel, moderator and some ancillary buildings removed. The GLEEP reactor and the hangar it

208-401: A mobile home in terms of appearance, but to that of a complex modernist design. There has also been an increase in the use of "green" materials in the construction of these prefab houses. Consumers can easily select between different environmentally friendly finishes and wall systems. Since these homes are built in parts, it is easy for a home owner to add additional rooms or even solar panels to

260-529: A part of the installation process. Buildings have been built in one place and reassembled in another throughout history. This was especially true for mobile activities, or for new settlements. Elmina Castle , the first slave fort in West Africa , was also the first European prefabricated building in Sub-saharan Africa . In North America , in 1624 one of the first buildings at Cape Ann

312-629: A replacement for the housing destroyed during the Blitz . The proliferation of prefabricated housing across the country was a result of the Burt Committee and the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944 . Under the Ministry of Works Emergency Factory Made housing programme, a specification was drawn up and bid on by various private construction and manufacturing companies. After approval by

364-404: A ten- storey building in 28 hours and 45 minutes. Prefabricated construction generates less carbon footprint, improves energy use and efficiency, and produces less waste, making it more sustainable and environmentally friendly, and compliant with sustainable design standards. The modular architecture allows, thanks to 3D modeling, the design and construction of the modular structure outside

416-606: A university with a nuclear physics laboratory. This more or less limited the choice to the areas around Oxford or Cambridge . It had been decided that an RAF airfield would be chosen, the aircraft hangars being ideal to house the large atomic piles that would need to be built. Although Cambridge University had the better nuclear physics facility (the Cavendish Laboratory ), the RAF did not want to abandon any of its eastern airfields because of its potential involvement in

468-497: Is a small group of staff and communicators. Usually very mobile, they exist to allow the commander to go forward in an operation, and command the key parts of it from a position where they can see the ground and influence their immediate subordinates. The main HQs (known as 'main') is less mobile and is involved in both the planning and execution of operations. There are a number of staff assembled here from various staff branches to advise

520-481: Is in London . In Japanese budō martial arts such as karate , judo , aikido , kendo , etc., there is usually a headquarters for each organization or region. The Japanese word honbu (本部) is generally used for that, also outside Japan . Sometimes they refer to these headquarters as honbu dojo (本部道場) in which dojo (道場) is a facility provided for practicing discipline, the training ground. Sometimes honbu

572-463: Is the entity at the top of a corporation that takes full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, and ensures corporate governance . The corporate headquarters is a key element of a corporate structure and covers different corporate functions including strategic planning , corporate communications , tax , legal operations , marketing , finance , human resources , information technology , and procurement . This entity includes

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624-508: Is written as ho m bu , the way it is pronounced, but the Hepburn transcription is honbu in which the 'n' is a syllabic n . Prefabricated building A prefabricated building , informally a prefab , is a building that is manufactured and constructed using prefabrication . It consists of factory-made components or units that are transported and assembled on-site to form the complete building. Various materials were combined to create

676-1152: The Cold War , therefore Harwell was chosen when the RAF made the airfield available. RAF Harwell was sixteen miles south of Oxford near Didcot and Harwell (at this time in Berkshire), and on 1 January 1946 the Atomic Energy Research Establishment was formed, coming under the Ministry of Supply . The scientists mostly took over both accommodations and work buildings from the departing RAF . The early laboratory had several specialist divisions: Chemistry (initially headed by Egon Bretscher , later by Robert Spence , General Physics (H.W.B. Skinner) , Nuclear Physics (initially headed by Otto Frisch , later E. Bretscher), Reactor Physics (John Dunworth), Theoretical Physics ( Klaus Fuchs , later Brian Flowers and Walter Marshall ), Isotopes (Henry Seligmann), Engineering (Harold Tongue, later Robert Jackson), Chemical Engineering (A.S. White), and Metallurgy (Bruce Chalmers, later Monty Finniston , FRS). Finniston

728-688: The Renkioi Hospital : a 1,000 patient hospital, with innovations in sanitation, ventilation and a flushing toilet. Fabricator William Eassie constructed the required 16 units in Gloucester Docks , shipped directly to the Dardanelles . Only used from March 1856 to September 1857, it reduced the death rate from 42% to 3.5%. The world's first prefabricated, pre-cast panelled apartment blocks were pioneered in Liverpool . A process

780-781: The Russian Orthodox Church is in Danilov Monastery , Moscow . The World Council of Churches , including Orthodox Churches, has its headquarters in Geneva , Switzerland . The headquarters of Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is located in Istanbul , Turkey . The headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City , Utah . The Anglican Communion Office

832-614: The chief executive officer (CEO) as a key person and their support staff such as the CEO office and other CEO-related functions; the "corporate policy making" functions, including all corporate functions necessary to steer the firm by defining and establishing corporate policies; the corporate services encompassing activities that combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based upon specialized knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external) customers and business partners; and

884-576: The 1970s the slowdown of the British nuclear energy program resulted in a greatly reduced demand for the kind of work being done by the UKAEA. Pressures on government spending also reduced the funding available. Reluctant to merely disband a quality scientific research organisation, UKAEA was required to divert its research effort to the solving of scientific problems for industry by providing paid consultancy or services. For example, an Operations Research Group

936-605: The 1980s and the hostels were demolished or adapted for other uses. The 'Prefab' estates lasted until the early 1990s when the residents were transferred to local authority housing. The RAF prewar NCO married quarter housing at Harwell together other UKAEA housing in Abingdon, Grove, Wantage and Newbury totaling 129 houses were sold in their entirety to the Welbeck Estate Group in 1995 and following extensive refurbishment were sold to local buyers. The remote nature of

988-467: The Harwell site required AERE workers to be transported by shuttle bus. By 1956, nine contractors to AERE operated a total of 47 mostly second-hand buses and coaches on 41 staff shuttle services, which operated 24 hours a day to shuttle workers as far as Oxford, Newbury, Reading and Swindon to the Harwell site. These buses were initially painted in utilitarian Ministry of Supply grey livery, however by

1040-637: The MoW, companies could bid on Council led development schemes, resulting in whole estates of prefabs constructed to provide accommodation for those made homeless by the War and ongoing slum clearance . Almost 160,000 had been built in the UK by 1948 at a cost of close to £216 million. The largest single prefab estate in Britain was at Belle Vale (South Liverpool), where more than 1,100 were built after World War 2. The estate

1092-609: The United States in 1908. Prefabricated housing was popular during the Second World War due to the need for mass accommodation for military personnel. The United States used Quonset huts as military buildings, and in the United Kingdom prefabricated buildings used included Nissen huts and Bellman Hangars . 'Prefabs' were built after the war as a means of quickly and cheaply providing quality housing as

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1144-425: The bidirectional interface between corporate headquarters and business units. A headquarters normally includes the leader of a business unit and their staff, as well as all functions to manage the business unit and operational activities. The head of the business unit is responsible for overall result of the business unit. A headquarters sometimes functions at the top of a regional unit, including all activities of

1196-449: The commander, and to control the various aspects of planning and the conduct of discrete operations. A main HQ for a large formation will have a chief of staff (CoS) who coordinates the staff effort; in a smaller HQ this may be done by the second-in-command . The rear or logistic headquarters is some distance from the battle or front line in conventional operations. Its function is to ensure

1248-591: The design and building of Britain's nuclear reactors such as the Windscale Piles and Calder Hall nuclear power station. To support this an extensive array of research and design laboratories were built to enable research into all aspects of nuclear reactor and fuel design, and the development of pilot plants for fuel reprocessing. The site became a major employer in the Oxford area. In the 1990s demand for government-led research had significantly decreased and

1300-477: The immediate post-war period in Britain. Two estates of 'Prefabs' were built to the north and south of the site perimeter, along with a road system and parade of shops. In later years, conventional housing was provided on estates built in Abingdon , Grove (near Wantage ) and Newbury for employees. A modern hostel (Rush Common House) was built in Abingdon. The houses were later sold (mainly to their occupants) in

1352-452: The last surviving examples of Second World War prefabs in order to comply with the British government's Decent Homes Standard , which came into effect in 2010. There has, however, been a recent revival in prefabricated methods of construction in order to compensate for the United Kingdom's current housing shortage. Architects are incorporating modern designs into the prefabricated houses of today. Prefab housing should no longer be compared to

1404-575: The logistical support to front line troops, which it does by organizing the delivery of combat supplies, materiel and equipment to where they are needed, and by organizing services such as combat medicine, equipment recovery, and repair. The headquarters of the Catholic Church is Vatican City . The World Headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses is relocated in Warwick, New York , from its former location, Brooklyn , New York. The headquarters of

1456-400: The main employers in the post-war period. It also led to an influx of labour from outside the area, putting pressure on already scarce housing stocks. In response to the problem, hostels and temporary housing were established around the site. The hostels were named Icknield Way House ('B' mess, the RAF sergeants' mess), Portway House ('C' Mess, the RAF airmans' mess) and Ridgeway House ('A' Mess,

1508-583: The massive housing shortages associated with the wartime destruction and large-scale urbanization and rural flight . Prefabrication for commercial uses has a long history - a major expansion was made in the Second World War when ARCON (short for Architecture Consultants) developed a system using steel components that could be rapidly erected and then clad with a variety of materials to suit local conditions, availability, and cost. McDonald's uses prefabricated structures for their buildings, and set

1560-618: The mid-1950s, the AERE fleet began adopting an azure blue and grey livery with 'AERE' signwriting. Such was the interest in nuclear power and the priority devoted to it in those days that the first reactor, GLEEP , was operating by 15 August 1947. GLEEP (Graphite Low Energy Experimental Pile) was a low-power (3   kilowatt ) graphite-moderated air-cooled reactor. The first reactor in Western Europe, it operated until 1990. A successor to GLEEP, called BEPO (British Experimental Pile 0)

1612-454: The nearby establishments to heat offices. This was the first use of nuclear district heating in the UK. BEPO was shut down in 1968. LIDO was an enriched uranium thermal swimming pool reactor which operated from 1956 to 1972 and was mainly used for shielding and nuclear physics experiments. It was fully dismantled and returned to a green field site in 1995. In the same building as LIDO, DAPHNE (Dido And Pluto Handmaiden for Nuclear Experiments)

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1664-545: The officers' mess) provided either single or double room accommodation for staff and were adopted from existing RAF structures on the site. The class distinction was maintained by the UKAEA. A-Mess housed visiting scientists, B-Mess scientific support staff and some post-graduate scientists, and C-Mess industrial support staff. The temporary housing stock consisted of several hundred ' Prefabs ', single storey structures manufactured in parts for quick erection, which were designed originally to help alleviate chronic housing shortages in

1716-521: The roofs. Many prefab houses can be customized to the client's specific location and climate, making prefab homes much more flexible and modern than before. There is a zeitgeist or trend in architectural circles and the spirit of the age favors the small carbon footprint of "prefab". The process of building pre-fabricated buildings has become so efficient in China that a builder in Changsha built

1768-505: The site was subsequently gradually diversified to allow private investment, and was known from 2006 as the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus . In 1945 John Cockcroft was asked to set up a research laboratory to further the use of nuclear fission for both military purposes and generating energy. The criteria for selection involved finding somewhere remote with a good water supply, but within reach of good transport links and

1820-443: The site where it will be installed. This offers several advantages such as more sustainable design, greater cost and time savings and standardization of design. This is especially important for large-scale construction projects. Many eastern European countries had suffered physical damage during World War II and their economies were in a very poor state. There was a need to reconstruct cities which had been severely damaged due to

1872-596: The time (advertisement, South Australian Record, 1837) and a few still stand in Australia. One such is the Friends Meeting House, Adelaide . The peak year for the importation of portable buildings to Australia was 1853, when several hundred arrived. These have been identified as coming from Liverpool , Boston and Singapore (with Chinese instructions for re-assembly). In Barbados the Chattel house

1924-601: The type of dwelling. The aluminium Type B2 prefab was produced as four pre-assembled sections which could be transported by lorry anywhere in the country. The Universal House (pictured left & lounge diner right) was given to the Chiltern Open Air Museum after 40 years temporary use. The Mark 3 was manufactured by the Universal Housing Company Ltd, Rickmansworth. The United States used prefabricated housing for troops during

1976-541: The various business units, taking full responsibility for overall profitability and success of this regional unit. Military headquarters take many forms, depending on the size and nature of the unit or formation they command. Typically, they are split into the forward, main and rear components, both within NATO nations, and those following the organization and doctrine of the former Soviet Union (see Isby, 1988). The forward or tactical headquarters, known as "tac" for short,

2028-422: The war and for GIs returning home. Prefab classrooms were popular with UK schools increasing their rolls during the baby boom of the 1950s and 1960s. Many buildings were designed with a five-ten year life span, but have far exceeded this, with a number surviving today. In 2002, for example, the city of Bristol still had residents living in 700 examples. Many UK councils have been in the process of demolishing

2080-429: The war. For example, Warsaw had been practically razed to the ground under the planned destruction of Warsaw by German forces after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising . The centre of Dresden , Germany, had been totally destroyed by the 1945 Allied bombardment. Stalingrad had been largely destroyed and only a small number of structures were left standing. Prefabricated buildings served as an inexpensive and quick way to alleviate

2132-483: Was a form of prefabricated building which was developed by emancipated slaves who had limited rights to build upon land they did not own. As the buildings were moveable they were legally regarded as chattels . In 1855 during the Crimean War , after Florence Nightingale wrote a letter to The Times , Isambard Kingdom Brunel was commissioned to design a prefabricated modular hospital. In five months he designed

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2184-470: Was believed that no further progress could be made with the kind of design that ZETA represented (see Timeline of nuclear fusion ). In 1954 AERE was incorporated into the newly formed United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). Harwell and other laboratories were to assume responsibility for atomic energy research and development. It was part of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). During

2236-434: Was constructed based on the experience with GLEEP, and commenced operation in 1948. At 6   MW , BEPO was much more powerful than GLEEP. The engineers at Harwell eventually decided that this small reactor should be put to some use, so the air that flowed over it was directed through an underground trench, where there were some pipes filled with water that connected to a secondary group of water-filled pipes that were used by

2288-468: Was constructed to test equipment used in experiments on the two larger reactors. A pair of larger 26   MW reactors, DIDO and PLUTO , which used enriched uranium with a heavy water moderator came online in 1956 and 1957 respectively. These reactors were used primarily for testing the behaviour of different materials under intense neutron irradiation to help decide what materials to build reactor components out of. A sample could be irradiated for

2340-502: Was demolished in the 1960s amid much controversy as the prefabs were very popular with residents at the time. Prefabs were aimed at families, and typically had an entrance hall, two bedrooms (parents and children), a bathroom (a room with a bath)  — which was a novel innovation for many Britons at that time, a separate toilet, a living room and an equipped (not fitted in the modern sense) kitchen. Construction materials included steel, aluminium, timber or asbestos cement , depending on

2392-500: Was divided in the early 1990s. UKAEA retained ownership of all land and infrastructure and of all nuclear facilities, and of businesses directly related to nuclear power. The remainder was privatised as AEA Technology and floated on the London Stock Exchange . Harwell Laboratory contained elements of both organisations, though the land and infrastructure was owned by UKAEA. The name Atomic Energy Research Establishment

2444-690: Was dropped at the same time, and the site became known as the Harwell International Business Centre . The site incorporates the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory which is home to the Science and Technology Facilities Council (including the ISIS neutron source and Diamond Light Source ). In 2006, the name Harwell Science and Innovation Campus was introduced and management of the campus was passed to

2496-647: Was invented by city engineer John Alexander Brodie , whose inventive genius also had him inventing the football goal net. The tram stables at Walton in Liverpool followed in 1906. The idea was not extensively adopted in Britain, however was widely adopted elsewhere, particularly in Eastern Europe. Prefabricated homes were produced during the Gold Rush in the United States, when kits were produced to enable Californian prospectors to quickly construct accommodation. Homes were available in kit form by mail order in

2548-501: Was later to become chairman of the British Steel Corporation. Directors after Cockcroft included Basil Schonland , Sir Arthur Vick and Walter Marshall . The decision to site AERE at Harwell had huge implications for a rural area which had depended mainly on agriculture for employment before World War II. The site (which quickly became known colloquially amongst the local population as 'The Atomic') became one of

2600-473: Was probably partially prefabricated, and was rapidly disassembled and moved at least once. John Rollo described in 1801 earlier use of portable hospital buildings in the West Indies . Possibly the first advertised prefab house was the "Manning cottage". A London carpenter, Henry Manning, constructed a house that was built in components, then shipped and assembled by British emigrants. This was published at

2652-467: Was set up at Harwell, and developed shipping fleet scheduling software that was used to provide a service to British and overseas shipping companies and oil reservoir simulation software to help in the development of the UK's North Sea oil interests. UKAEA was ordered to operate on a Trading Fund basis, i.e. to account for itself financially as though it was a private corporation, while remaining fully government owned. After several years of transition, UKAEA

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2704-509: Was situated in were decommissioned 2005. The current plans are to decommission the BEPO, DIDO and PLUTO reactors by 2020. One of the most significant experiments to occur at AERE was the ZETA fusion power experiment. An early attempt to build a large-scale nuclear fusion reactor, the project was started in 1954, and the first successes were achieved in 1957. In 1968 the project was shut down, as it

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