History of the site

In the latter stages of the 19th century, Fort Halstead was one of a series of strategic forts built around London. It was underutilised for many years until the Government decided it should be used as a base for the Ministry for Supply, from which it became the headquarters for the Royal Armament Research Development Establishment (RARDE).

During this period in excess of a 100 buildings were constructed on site and at its peak several thousand people worked there. The nature of the defence activities conducted in the facility means that few people other than those who work or have worked at Fort Halstead have seen what is now a large sprawling development on a brownfield site.

In 1991, RARDE was amalgamated into the Defence Research Agency, which itself merged in 1995 to form the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). Following a split of DERA in 2001, Fort Halstead came under the control of QinetiQ, the UK defence technology company. Fort Halstead is currently occupied by QinetiQ and a wing of the Ministry of Defence, DSTL, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory .

In March 2006, the London office of the international real estate firm Hines with RREEF, the real estate investment arm of Deutsche Bank, formed a joint venture that unconditionally purchased the circa 330-acre Fort Halstead site from QinetiQ.