A Public Private Partnership commenced in June 2001, with the Stratus consortium of Costain, Skanska and Group 4 Falck Global Solutions (GSL) to construct the new Met Office headquarters and operations centre in Exeter. Work on the site commenced in October 2001 and construction was completed in December 2003.

The new premises provide us with a modern, environmentally friendly building, enabling us to bring all our operations previously in Bracknell under one roof in Exeter. This will help us to improve the effectiveness of our operations and encourage the development of innovative products and services.

The purpose-built building has been designed to support advanced technology and IT infrastructure, which will result in increased resilience and data reliability for our customers. By building in significant back-up to our major IT systems from day one — two power grids, two IT halls, two supercomputers — we can ensure better services for customers, 24 hours a day, every day.

The Met Office in Exeter employs over 1,000 staff, many of whom relocated from the Bracknell area. We have also recruited a number of staff from the Exeter area including a number of new jobs with GSL created for staff employed by local companies that are supplying services to or within the Met Office.

How to find us
Our new location is easy to find...

Art programme
The aim of Art at the Met Office has been to reflect, promote and debate the activities of the Met Office through exploring the inter-relationships between art and science...