Endeavour House is a municipal building in Russell Road in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England. It is the meeting place and offices of

Suffolk County Council Suffolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 75 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions. It is a member of the East of England Local Governme ...

. The Babergh District Council and Mid Suffolk District Council also use the building for their offices and meeting place.

History

The site was previously occupied by Russell House, which was once an Eastern Electricity Central Accounting Office but was demolished in 2001 to make way for the first stage of the Ipswich Village Development. Endeavour House was designed by TTSP architects and constructed by Bovis Lend Lease at a cost of £28 million between 2001 and 2003. It was originally commissioned by TXU Corporation but, in November 2002, four months before the building was due to complete TXU Corporation went into administration. In 2003

, who had previously occupied the aging County Hall in

, were able to buy the 60% completed building for only £16 million. The county council made some alterations, the main change being the conversion of an indoor garden into a 90 desk chamber for 125 councilors on the second floor. However, in September 2016, 40% of the facilities were not being used. In late 2017 Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils relocated to Endeavour House to lower their costs. East and West Suffolk

Clinical Commissioning Group Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were National Health Service (England), National Health Service (NHS) organisations set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to replace Strategic health authority, strategic health authorities and NHS pr ...

s also moved into Endeavour house in October 2017.

Description

The building has 50,000

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

cells incorporated into the glass curtain walls, this being the largest installation of any office building in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. At peak sunlight these cells provide 57% of the building's energy demand and also create a dark pattern on the glass. There are also rain collecting reservoirs underground which recycle the water and pump it around the building for use in toilets. The building is designed to suit corporate businesses with glass curtain walls, cantilever walkways and offices with windows that look into the concourse, forming a major improvement on the working environment at the county council's former headquarters at the East Suffolk County Hall. The building is situated at 8 Russell Road, opposite

Ipswich Borough Council Ipswich Borough Council is the local authority for Ipswich, a non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Suffolk, England. It is the second tier of a two-tier system, fulfilling functions such as refuse ...

's headquarters at Grafton House.

Portman Road Portman Road is a association football, football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C., Ipswich Town since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one E ...

Stadium is situated behind the building. There is some limited surface car parking for permit holders but there is also a large

multistorey 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 ...

shared with Ipswich Borough Council with access from Constantine Road. File:Russell Road, Ipswich - geograph.org.uk - 1305042.jpg, Russell Road with Endeavour house pictured on the right File:Arms of Suffolk.svg, Suffolk County Council coat of arms File:Endeavour House, home of Suffolk County Council - geograph.org.uk - 1305055.jpg, Endeavour House as seen from Constantine Road showing the rear of the building

References

{{Portal, Architecture Office buildings in Ipswich Politics of Suffolk 2003 establishments in England Commercial buildings completed in 2003 High-tech architecture Office buildings completed in 2003 Recipients of Civic Trust Awards County halls in England Government buildings completed in 2003