If you’ve looked across the fell tops from Penrith recently, you may have thought you were seeing double. Great Dun Fell, usually crowned with its familiar white radar dome, is sprouting a second domes now visible from miles around.
The 37-year-old Great Dun Fell radar station, operated by NATS (National Air Traffic Services), is Cumbria’s highest building. It provides UK airspace radar tracking for both Prestwick and Swanwick control centres, with a range of approximately 200 miles. covering airspace from Manchester to north of Glasgow, out across the North Sea and west out into the Atlantic.
For anyone flying from airports in the north of the UK, or on transatlantic routes passing over northern England and Scotland, the radar will have tracked every second of flight through its 200-mile coverage zone, as well as providing vital communication links between flight crews and air traffic controllers.
As well as being the county’s highest building, the site also boasts the highest flushing toilet in England.
Radar has been on Great Dun Fell since the post-war years, with the first facility installed when radar was new and still developing as a new technology that has emerged during the Second World War.
The construction of current radar building and dome on Great Dun Fell was started in spring 1985, with harsh conditions forcing work to continue through winter to complete by planned deadlines. By late 1986, installation of the plant and radar equipment was completed, with commissioning taking place into early 1987. Once tested and verified, the system went into service, allowing the old buildings and masts to be demolished and the site restored.
Now, nearly four decades later, work is underway to replace the radar dome that has become a local landmark visible for miles around, which is now reaching the end of its operational life. The work to replace the dome has resulted in two white domes currently sitting on the felltop as the new dome is constructed and will once complete be moved into place as a replacement for the current radar dome.
A NATS spokesperson speaking with Penrith.Town this week about the project said:
“A project is underway to replace the existing radome at Great Dun Fell, which is reaching the end of its operational life. The new dome is already on site and will be lifted into place once weather conditions allow – a complex engineering challenge requiring precise fitting over sensitive equipment in an exposed location often subject to wind, rain and snow.”
“Great Dun Fell plays a vital role in providing surveillance coverage for the UK’s airspace, making the successful completion of this replacement essential to maintaining the resilience of the network.”
The new dome will take over the role of its long-serving predecessor, continuing Great Dun Fell’s place in UK air traffic control radar network and as a local landmark.
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