BT Laboratories

Adastral Park is a science campus based at Martlesham Heath near Ipswich in the English county of Suffolk.

When the site opened it was known as the Post Office Research Station, but it was subsequently renamed BT Research Laboratories or BT Labs and later Adastral Park to reflect an expansion in the organisations and activities co-located with BT Labs at the campus.

Initially research was carried out into postal sorting and delivery technology and telecommunications. After the Post Office was split apart prior to British Telecom's privatisation in the early 1980, the research concentrated on telecommunications.

In keeping with the stellar theme of the site name, buildings on site are named after stars or constellations (an example being the Main Laboratory Block now named the Orion building). The Orion building is easily recognisable from the nearby A12 road with its 200 ft. radio tower (now named Pegasus tower) dominating the skyline.

The change to the current name occurred in the late 1990s with the aim of turning the site into a high technology business park no longer exclusively for the use of BT. The name was created by Stewart Davies, the CEO of the BT business (BT Exact Technologies) headquartered at the site at that time. It is derived from the motto of the Royal Air Force – per ardua ad astra – through adversity to the stars. The Royal Air Force were prior residents of the site, as RAF Martlesham Heath. Experimental aircraft test flights flew from the airfield and the name was meant to reflect this. In March 2001, University College London, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, chose Adastral Park to set up the first-ever postgraduate research and teaching centre on an industrial campus which existed until 2009. During the transformation of the Park many of the old buildings were removed and during the landscaping, car parks were moved to the perimeter of the site with the centre being transformed with open park land and a water feature to provide a 'park' feel to the complex. The site accommodates approximately 4000 people.

Companies based at Adastral Park besides British Telecom (BT Research) include:

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