Giant "brain" cost £1.25m

 

Hempstead House which contains the Shell-Mex and BP Computer Centre dominates Hemel Hempstead town centre.

THE SHELL-MEX AND BP Group operates its Southern Computer Centre in the Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, and has recently installed a UNIVAC 1106 computer. This is the next stage in the Group's development of a new computer configuration based on a UNIVAC 1108, which was installed last year.

The UNIVAC 1106 is not so fast as the 1108, but is still a giant in the computer world. Costing roughly one and a quarter million pounds, it is capable of performing three-quarters of a million calculations every second, and is equipped with the most advanced computer facilities, both in terms of its 'hardware' (the machinery itself), and its 'software' (the specialist programs which help the computer to do its job).

As you might imagine, a machine of such complexity does not just arrive in a building. A considerable amount of preparatory work has to be done long before the delivery date, in order to ensure that the installation can run smoothly.

At the Shell-Mex and BP Group's Computer Centre, plans for the installation began in February of this year. The Group's property experts joined the computer people to begin planning the installation job like a military operation. Computers are expensive, and delays in commissioning them are costly, and so the installation plans were vital.

 When the plans were completed by the Groups staff and the consultant architect, the contractors began to arrive, and both local and national firms have been involved.

Special flooring had to be laid, a false ceiling built to cater for the air-conditioning required — computers don't like hot, cold or excessively humid rooms.

So the contractors were engaged, and the work started. The structural alterations involved installing a complex air-conditioning unit, with inlet and extract ducts through the sub-floor. It was also necessary to excavate the Plant Room a further five feet. All the work was completed on time.

Special electrical work was required to lay two supply cables from the existing Plant Room in the West Wing of Hempstead House to the East Wing, situated on the other side of the Marlowes.

Finally the machine was delivered, in three lorry loads, and the eight-odd separate packages which make up the ironmongery of the UNIVAC 1106 arrived. Work went on throughout the day of delivery, and by seven o'clock in the evening the basic delivery was complete.

The next stage of the commissioning of the new computer is the running of its technical acceptance tests, and when these have been successfully completed, the new computer is up and ready to begin operation.

The Shell-Mex and BP Group will use the 1106 to expand further its commercial data processing tasks. This will provide a better service to customers, both nationally and in Hemel Hempstead. The Group acknowledges the contribution of local and national contractors who helped them with this work.

Taken from an "Advertisement Feature" in a local paper. Date unknown, but probably early 1970's

(The present value of £1.25m in 1970 is equivalent to about £15m today - quite an expensive computer!)