Endeavour House is a municipal building in Russell Road in
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
,
Suffolk, England. It is the meeting place and offices of
Suffolk County Council. 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
Lendlease is a globally integrated real estate company that creates and invests in communities, workplaces, retail, and infrastructure projects, headquartered in Barangaroo, New South Wales, Australia.
History Founding
The company was establ ...
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 Vis ...
but, in November 2002, four months before the building was due to complete TXU Corporation went into administration. In 2003
Suffolk County Council, who had previously occupied the aging
County Hall in
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
, 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 NHS organisations set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to organise the delivery of NHS services in each of their local areas in England. On 1 July 2022 they were abolished and replaced by Integ ...
s also moved into Endeavour house in October 2017.
Description
The building has 50,000
photovoltaic cells incorporated into the glass curtain walls, this being the largest installation of any office building in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
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, founded in 1974 after the abolition of the County Borough of Ipswich, governs the non-metropolitan district of Ipswich in Suffolk. It is the second tier of a two-tier system, fulfilling functions such as refuse collecti ...
's headquarters at
Grafton House.
Portman Road
Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internation ...
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 (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...
shared with Ipswich Borough Council with access from Constantine Road.
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