Guillemont Barracks

The barracks were built in 1938.^[1] Covering 13.7ha, they were named after the German-held village of Guillemont,^[1][2] which was retaken by the British Expeditionary Force, in September 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. The West Nova Scotia Regiment arrived at the barracks on 1 January 1940,^[3][4][5] and the Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, part of the Canadian 5th Brigade, were stationed at the barracks in late 1940.^[1][6] King George VI and Queen Elizabeth inspected the troops on 26 March 1941.^[1] The 3rd Training Regiment of the Royal Engineers were based there from 1954 until the early 1960s.^[7] It then became the home of the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment between 1963 and 1965.^[8]

The site was purchased by Sun Microsystems in 1997 for £36 million, to construct a large campus site for around 4,500 staff with data centres and UK headquarters, and was named Guillemont Park. Only the 3 largest (280,000 sq ft) of the planned 5 buildings were completed due to the Dot-com crash.^[9] Property developer, Landid, bought the site in January 2011 and renamed it Sun Park.^[9] In 2018, Bellway started a new residential development named Helios Park with 226 new houses.^[10]