The Old and New

After an NOF Networking event today with Aker Solutions. I went for some fresh air to Torry Battery and took this bland shot for its Historical perspective.

On the left and known as the Roundhouse, this building is located on the North Breakwater at Footdee (Aberdeen), the Roundhouse represents the former Harbour Master's Station for Aberdeen Harbour, later renamed the Navigation Control Centre. Built c.1798, this distinctive building is actually octagonal and comprises a white-harled base with a steeply sloping slate roof rising beyond an external balcony to a control tower.

A small extension projects on stilts from the front of the building to overlook the water. Harbour traffic was originally controlled by a signal involving three black balls mounted on a mast on the roof. In 1966 this signal was removed when the roof was raised to incorporate the new control tower. In 1974, a sweeping radar antenna was placed on the roof to monitor ship movements.

In 1986, HM Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a plaque on the Roundhouse to commemorate the 850th anniversary of a charter issued to the Bishop of Aberdeen by King David I, which was the first recorded reference to Aberdeen Harbour.

The C-listed Roundhouse fell from use in 2006 when the new Marine Operations Centre opened nearby but the building was refurbished as office accommodation at a cost of £190,000 and re-occupied in 2009.

On the right the new Marine Operations Centre.

The new Centre replaces the old Navigation Control Centre, known as The Roundhouse to the left of the picture.

A distinctive modernist glass tower located at Footdee, a mile (1.5 km) east of Aberdeen city centre, the Marine Operations Centre controls Aberdeen Harbour from its prominent position on the North Breakwater at the harbour entrance. Commissioned in 2006 at a cost of £4.5 million, it was the work of SMC Parr Architects Ltd and built by Sir Robert McAlpine.

The award-winning design was the result of an architectural competition and represents the intersection of a white lighthouse-style tower with an inverted cone of glass that would perhaps be more familiar as an airport control tower. The state-of-the-art Centre provides staff with a view over the modestly sized but exceptionally busy harbour and incorporates signaling and radar equipment for vessel traffic management.

It also includes an emergency response control room and training facilities that feature an advanced ship's bridge simulator.