ITS history dates back more than 200 years, to a time when England was faced with the threat of a French invasion.

However, Southampton’s world famous Ordnance Survey is now just months from being brought into the 21st Century.

The Daily Echo was yesterday given exclusive access to the mapping agency’s new headquarters at Adanac Park, on the edge of the M271.

The 15.5 acre site will use the very latest environmentally sustainable technology to maximise natural resources and minimise carbon emissions.

Artists’ impressions of how the innovative £40m office will look inside have also been revealed for the first time.

More than 1,000 staff will relocate from the current head office on Romsey Road, Maybush, in December.

Project manager Malcolm Pritchard said the move would herald a new age for the OS, which was first set up by the Government in 1791.

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“The way maps are produced now is entirely different and we have grown out of the Romsey Road site,” he said.

“It was built for a specific way of drawing maps and this is a digital business now, rather than a drafting business.”

A nursery, shop, Internet café, restaurant, lecture theatre and an outdoor volleyball court are just some of the facilities staff can look forward to.

However, it is the building’s eye-catching design and environmental credentials that mean it’s no ordinary office block.

Builders were yesterday putting the finishing touches on a huge brick wall that will act as an “acoustic buffer” to minimise motorway noise.

The 10m high wall, which is split into two sections at either flank of the building, is made up of 12,000 bricks.

The second major architectural feature is two chimney-shaped structures on the roof of the three-storey building.

These “service cores”, which are designed to replicate the funnels that adorn Southampton’s famous cruise ships, will help in the natural ventilation of the building.

Mr Pritchard said they would assist in generating cross draft, while toilet and irrigation water will come from a £220,000 rainwater harvest system.

However, the building’s crown jewel is a £2.5m ground source heat pump (GSHP) system, which will heat and cool the office areas.

The largest system of its kind in Hampshire, it consists of 100 bore holes almost 100m deep that will be connected to heat pumps. Other environmental initiatives include recycling all kitchen waste onsite, windows that automatically open and close and computerised lights that switch themselves on and off.

With just 550 parking spaces available for almost 1,100 employees, some staff will be expected to catch public transport, join a car share scheme or cycle to work.

They will also be encouraged to communicate via video conferences to cut down on business-related car journeys. In the future, solar panels could also be added.

OS business change manager Greg Tumilty said: “We are not just changing a building, we are changing an entire mentality of people as well.”

At the heart of the building, which is expected to earn a Breeam excellent rating, is a huge atrium that will be a social hub.

The open plan office space is spread over three floors and broken up into four “fingers”

that each boast balconies.

Almost 200 builders are currently on site and property developer Kier is now just six months away from handing over the keys.

Although construction was hampered by January’s heavy snowfall, the project is only running a few weeks behind schedule.

Mr Pritchard was confident work would be finished by September and that staff would have moved in by Christmas.

See more pictures in today's Daily Echo