Export House in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, is a tall office building formerly also known as the BAT Building during its tenancy by

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, E ...

. It was the tallest in Woking and among the five tallest buildings in Surrey until the construction of Victoria Square in September 2019. Its height is spread over its 18 floors (15 above ground).

History

Export House was the significantly tallest aspect of the Surrey town regeneration after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, which centred on the expansion and improvement of

satellite town A satellite city or satellite town is a smaller municipality or settlement that is part of (or on the edge of) a larger metropolitan area and serves as a regional population and employment center. It differs from mere suburbs, subdivisions a ...

s, in this county being

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

and

. It was built at the same time as the Wolsey Place

Shopping Centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

, which is a

contiguous Contiguity or contiguous may refer to: *Contiguous data storage, in computer science *Contiguity (probability theory) *Contiguity (psychology) *Contiguous distribution of species, in biogeography *Geographic contiguity Geographic contiguity is t ...

building. Export House was the tallest building in the

borough of Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

. Construction of Export House finished in 1974. It became tenant-ready in 1976 when it was part-let to the first lessee, BAT who then expanded across the remaining floors. Woking Skyline

Tenants and lessees

In 1976, British American Tobacco moved in as the first tenant, making it their headquarters. Export House had already been completed two years previously in 1974. In 1997 BAT chose to relocate to a new building in London. Accordingly it was for some time also known as the BAT Building. It is the tallest building in Woking and among the five tallest buildings in the county. Its height is and has 18 storeys (15 floors above ground).

Telewest Telewest (previously Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications) was a cable internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was also ...

moved into Export House during summer 2001 after a £15 million refurbishment. Telewest had rented the top six floors for about a year before they moved permanently to Export House. Their previous base was in Sheerwater also by the

South West Main Line The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south wes ...

in the borough. Telewest vacated in 2006 after a merger and consolidation with

NTL NTL may refer to: Companies * NTL Incorporated and NTL Internet, later Virgin Media, communications media company ** NTL Ireland, later Virgin Media Ireland * Arqiva, UK company formerly ''NTL Broadcast'' and ''National Transcommunications ...

. From a deal of 2008 Mustang Engineering began to occupy for a few years and in the 2010s were succeeded by Mouchel Group who moved from West Hall in nearby

West Byfleet West Byfleet is a village in Surrey which grew up around its relatively minor stop on the London & South Western Railway: the station, originally '' Byfleet and Woodham'', opened in 1887. More than from the medieval village of Byfleet, the ...

Future

The block has set a precedent for iconic, complimentary buildings being open to consideration under the existing Woking Borough Local Plan, adopted in 1999. Plans for a new shopping centre, named Victoria Square, located next to Export House, were unveiled in 2012 with planning permission approved in 2014. Victoria Square includes three new towers, two residential and one a hotel, at 34, 32 and 23 stories tall respectively. All three new towers would be taller than Export House, becoming the new tallest buildings in Surrey. Construction began in 2016, and is scheduled for completion by 2021.

Architecture

Export House is of

modular design Modular design, or modularity in design, is a design principle that subdivides a system into smaller parts called ''modules'' (such as modular process skids), which can be independently created, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other modules ...

chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

ed on the narrow west

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

/parapet and lightly storey-grooved. It avoided the tri-dimensional symmetry of some of its shorter-lived contemporaries. Export House has no explicit or implicit reference to compulsory or encouraged complete demolition in the mid-term local plan. From 2000 to 2007 the structure bore an air pollution-stained upper exterior so appeared more

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

than old and new buildings of the town centre. The 1950s to 1980s saw commercial office mid-cost construction sceptical of fancy

classical architecture Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Ancient Greek architecture, Greek and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De archit ...

while remaining polite, incorporating subtle asymmetry such as with stylised ends, roofs or windows in a maximal façade: as in London's

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

and the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

. In Surrey, comparable buildings are the Chubb Tower and within 500m of border of

Ewell Ewell ( , ) is a town in Surrey, England, south of Centre of London, central London and northeast of Epsom. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 34,872. The majority (73%) was in the NRS social grade, ABC1 ...

, Surrey, the

Tolworth Tolworth is a suburban area in the Surbiton district, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. It is southwest of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Berrylands, Chessington, Epsom, Ewell, Kingston upon Thames, Kingston, Lo ...

Tower in Greater London. Export House has a staircase and four lifts adjacent to the main entrance in the western facade. The building has radio and telecom masts appropriate for its height and deep parapet roof.

Location

The building is part-above Wolsey Place Shopping Centre, its entrance being next to one of the latter's main entrance. Beneath the shopping centre is a private, gated car park underneath; opposite is a

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

. Occupying part of a commercial block of the entirely commercial-leisure town centre it is classed as on Cawsey Way. Export House, New Central and Centrium in central Woking's skyline are clearly visible from the

Hog's Back The Hog's Back is a hilly ridge, part of the North Downs in Surrey, England. It runs between Farnham, Surrey, Farnham in the west and Guildford in the east. Toponym Compared with the main part of the Downs to the east of it, it is a narrow el ...

, the narrow western ridge of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

south, the closest point of these downs is the west bank of the Wey, Guildford and Pewley Down which commands the east bank, including Guildford Castle.

Public access

The building has occasionally been open to the public on tours for

Heritage Open Days Heritage Open Days (also known as HODs) is an annual celebration of England's history and culture that allows visitors free access to heritage sites and community events that are either not usually open to the public, would normally charge an ent ...

. Tours last for approximately 30 minutes.

Gallery

The first two pictures were taken during December 2011. A large Christmas tree configuration of lights formed part of Woking's

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

celebrations. File:Export House Xmas Tree1.jpg, Woking Export House Christmas tree with star from market File:Export House Xmas Tree2.jpg, Woking Export House Christmas tree from train station

References

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