The Beehive

]] In September 1933 A. M. (Morris) Jackaman, who owned several light aircraft, bought Gatwick Aerodrome for £13,500 (2023 equivalent £1.02 million). He planned a purpose-built terminal building; the previous aerodrome building was a converted farmhouse. He put great importance on the design process: he, and contemporaries, considered terminals at other aerodromes to be impractical and unsuitable for expansion. Jackaman developed the idea of a circular terminal building—reputedly in response to a throwaway comment by his father—and submitted a patent application for the concept on 8 October 1934. Advantages claimed for the design included efficient use of space and greater safety of…

The terminal was designed by architects Hoar, Marlow and Lovett (job architect Alan Marlow) in accordance with the design concept provided by Morris Jackaman. It was built from steel reinforced concrete frames with internal brickwork walls, A Vierendeel girder with six supports runs around the first floor roof. As originally built, the interior consisted of concentric rings of rooms and offices with corridors between them, Six telescopic covered corridors led from the main concourse, allowing six aircraft to be in use at one time. A subway led from the terminal to the new station, 130 yd away, ensuring that passengers arriving by train from London stayed undercover from the time they…

GB Airways, established in 1931 as Gibraltar Airways by Gibraltar shipping group MH Bland, moved its headquarters and operational base to The Beehive in 1989. EasyJet agreed to purchase GB Airways in 2007, but The Beehive was not included. The employment base at The Beehive closed, with 284 job losses. After the purchase was completed in January 2008, the building was retained by GB's former parent company, Bland Group, The Bland Group markets the office space to tenants requiring serviced office accommodation. In December 2014, local firm of solicitors Mayo Wynne Baxter set up an office in the building. The Beehive was Grade II* listed on 19 August 1996.