The Doughnut
"The Doughnut" is the nickname given to the headquarters of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British cryptography and intelligence agency. It is located on a site in Benhall, in the suburbs of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in South West England. The Doughnut houses 5,500 employees; GCHQ is the largest single employer in Gloucestershire. Built to modernise and consolidate GCHQ's multiple buildings in Cheltenham, The Doughnut was completed in 2003, and GCHQ moved into the building in 2004. It is the largest building constructed for secret intelligence operations outside the United States. The Doughnut was too small for the number of staff at its completion, and a second building in a secret and undisclosed location in the 'Gloucestershire area' now also accommodates staff from GCHQ. The Doughnut is surrounded by car and bicycle parking in concentric rings, and well protected by security.
South West England
Beverage Brands is based at Hucclecote on the Gloucester Business Park off B4641 east of the M5 Brockworth Interchange, with Horizon Nuclear Power, and next to NHS Gloucestershire); in the same building is MessageLabs (Symantec), and a main office of Ageas UK (insurance). Further south in Brockworth is Direct Wines (Laithwaites); to the east is a G-TEKT (former Takao Europe) automotive metal pressings and sub-assemblies factory and a large Invista textiles factory (former ICI Fibres, then Dupont from 1992, which makes nylon fibres);
the site is built on the former Gloster Aircraft factory, which closed around 1960. Renishaw plc is in Wotton-under-Edge, previously being in Nailsworth. Lister Petter, off the A4135 in Dursley, make diesel engine generator sets; Lister Shearing is the only British manufacturer of clipping and shearing (animals) equipment. The Fire Service College is in Moreton-in-Marsh near Moreton-in-Marsh station. Northcot Brick is at Blockley, in the north-east, next to the railway; Per Una is based near Draycott.