Endeavour House is a municipal building in Russell Road in Ipswich,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, England. It is the meeting place and offices of

Suffolk County Council Suffolk County Council is the administrative 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 Government Association. History Establ ...

. The

Babergh District Council Babergh may refer to the following places in England: * Babergh Hundred, a defunct hundred of the county of Suffolk, named for a "mound of a man called Babba" * Babergh District Babergh District (pronounced , ) is a Non-metropolitan district, lo ...

and

Mid Suffolk District Council Mid Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council was based in Needham Market until late 2017, and is currently sharing offices with the Suffolk County Council in Ipswich. The largest town of Mid Suffolk is Stowmarket. ...

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 The Ipswich Village Development is a 125-acre area, situated around Portman Road stadium, Ipswich England. The main road of the development is Russell Road which was built to House TXU Corporation and bring the corporation under one roof however ...

. 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 TXU Energy is an American retail electricity provider headquartered in Irving, Texas, serving residential and business customers in deregulated regions of Texas since the deregulation of the Texas electricity market in 2002. A subsidiary of Vist ...

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 Ipswich, 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 Groups 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 us ...

cells incorporated into the glass curtain walls, this being the largest installation of any office building in Europe. 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 East Suffolk County Hall is a historic building located in St Helen's Street in Ipswich. The building, which was the headquarters of East Suffolk County Council until 1974 and then of Suffolk County Council until 2004, is a Grade II listed buil ...

. The building is situated at 8 Russell Road, opposite Ipswich Borough Council's headquarters at

Grafton House Grafton House (known as Ipswich Borough Council HQ) is the headquarters for Ipswich Borough Council and Smartest Energy. Located on Russell Road (Ipswich) opposite Endeavour House, Grafton House is a 6-storey building and was designed by Consarc ...

. Portman Road 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 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 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