Description:This photograph shows part of Duncan Hall estate taken prior to its demolition in 1987. It is now the site of new housing on Ashdale Park and De Havilland Drive. In the distance can be seen the New Training Building on the British Telecom Central Training School site (formerly Howard Hall) which opened early 1969.
Duncan Hall, Beatty Hall and Howard Hall (all named after Royal Navy Admirals) were built in 1938 for munitions workers relocated from Woolwich Arsenal to work at the Royal Ordnance factory at Swynnerton. However, they were not occupied by muntions workers, and instead were occupied by the United States Air Force during the Second World War.
The General Post Office took over the buildings after the war, and the G.P.O. Engineering Department Central Training School opened in Yarnfield in 1946. In 1984 G.P.O. telephones became British Telecom. Since 2002 it has been under the management of Accenture, an American company supplying training and human resources services to B.T.