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Ipswich Airport Ipswich, Suffolk Ipswich Airport, designed by Heining and Chitty in 1938, exemplified a new development in airport design. It exhibits significant innovation in its simplicity and planning. Of primary importance to the plan was the possibility of future extensions. As a result, the terminal building was designed on a standard 15ft square module and constructed from light steelwork, brick walls and slender partitions, all of which would adapt easily to alterations without affecting the main structure. Indeed, the building was enlarged within a year of completion. This was perhaps the first attempt in Britain to construct a building that was flexible in three dimensions. The building is steel-framed with painted brick cladding and a flat roof. Wings project forward from a main block. The main façade looks on to the runway and has a continuous range of windows on both floors. The fenestration is of metal and wooden-framed windows. This is a very rare and early example of a 1930s airport, one of the few other ones being the same firm’s airport at Exeter. In 1993, Heining and Chitty’s Ipswich Airport was closed. To the anger and dismay of the airport users – flying clubs, aviation enthusiasts and local parachutists- Ipswich Borough Council (both landowner and local authority) decided that they was no long-term future in providing or owning a 60-year-old airport, particularly one that was worth up to 50 million pounds as a redevelopment site. The decision of the Borough to redevelop the site was brought to a halt when the Secretary of State refused an application by Wimpey Homes for listed building consent to demolish on the grounds that the scheme was too premature and basic aspects such as site access had not yet been thought out. In 1998, the Society supported a scheme by John McAslan and Partners to restore the airport’s terminal building, which was in an extremely bad state of disrepair. The scheme was finally abandoned one year later. The future of Ipswich Airport seems today to be in the hands of Ashwell Property Development Ltd, which has received a grant of full planning permission in February 2003 to redevelop the terminal building as a residential and community centre. The new design is drawn by CMC Architects who completely changed the window structure to insert large entrance doors to the building. The terminal redevelopment is part of a bigger scheme whose purpose is to create a new local centre in Ipswich. The only memory of the airport will be a plaque explaining the former use of the building at its entrance. However unfortunate, this scheme seems to be Ipswich Airport’s last chance to survive. Ipswich Airport is significant not only in architectural terms; it also has historic importance. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Ipswich became a satellite airfield for RAF Wattisham and Blenheim bombers were stationed there, some of them taking part in the first offensive operations against Germany. Cecilia Jagu
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