Shell Technology Centre

The neighbouring oil refinery opened in 1949, although a smaller plant had been there since 1924.

In the 1950s it was one of three main Shell research sites in the UK, the others being in Kent and Buckinghamshire.

In 1962, Shell spent £25m on research, with 19 worldwide research centres, 8 in Europe, and 11 in the US. [1]

By the early 1960s Shell also had its Central Laboratories in Surrey (which opened in 1956), the Tunstall Laboratory, and Chemical Enzymology Laboratory at Sittingbourne in Kent Shell X-100 was Europe's top selling motor oil (lubrication).

North Sea oil was produced from 1975.

In the mid 1970s Shell had around 5,000 worldwide research staff. In 1975 it closed two of its four British research sites, and one in Delft in the Netherlands. The Surrey research site closed with its 430 employees, with its work transferred work to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Cheshire with the centre's 850 employees. Before the closures, Shell had 2080 employees at British research centres. The main Dutch research sites were at Amsterdam (Royal Shell Laboratory Amsterdam) and Rijswijk.[2]

The site was largely an automotive engineering research facility.[4]

In 1948 the site had 70 scientists. Work was carried out on direct fuel injection and butane-powered engines. Its scientists researched lubrication with the Ubbelohde viscometer. In 1949 Britain's first diesel train, with an English Electric engine, had Shell lubricating oil. Two-thirds of the lubricating oil made in UK was Shell, with Shell conducting £6m of research in 1949. The centre researched tyres, paint, textiles, and detergents. [5]

In the 1960s automotive companies from Europe would test automotive engines there.[6]

The site conducted work with British Leyland on pollution in the late 1960s, due to increasing legislation in the US, costing £100,000 a year, overlooked by Morris Sugden.[7] BP conducted similar research at its Sunbury Research Centre.

The site is 66 acres. It was situated north of the M56, north-west of junction 14, at the Hapsford services (a Shell services), to the north of the A5117. It is directly east of the large oil refinery, south of the neighbouring Hooton–Helsby line.

• Castrol Technology Centre in Oxfordshire (owned by BP)
• The former Esso Research Centre in Oxfordshire
• Widnes Laboratory
• Winnington Laboratory