Marchwood Engineering Laboratories

Marchwood Engineering Laboratories was operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board in the early 1960s as one of three national research laboratories. The centre developed a broad-based research programme concentrating on structural, combustion and mechanical engineering, and included techniques, design codes, instrumentation and machines for welding, nuclear reactor inspection, turbines and other plant. A low-speed wind tunnel, built to study power station emissions, was also built there. Following privatisation of the electricity industry, Marchwood Engineering Laboratories were allocated to PowerGen, but that company was engaged in comparatively little research, and the rundown and closure of the site were announced in 1989.