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Exterior External outside Fisons Sanofi Aventis Admin dome glass Urbex Urban exploration Adam X Urban Exploration Photo photos photographs UK March 2015 report abandoned disused derelict decay decayed

Explore #130: Fisons / Sanofi Aventis adminstration building, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire – March 2015

The next stop on our whistlestop UK exploring weekender was the battered remains of this art-deco former admin building… History Originally opened by Bengers Ltd in 1937, the site was purchased by Fisons in the 1960s and used for pharmaceutical research – the drug Intal (an anti-inflammatory, used to treat/prevent asthma attacks) was developed here. The site closed circa 2004, when Sanofi Aventis bought the site and built a new factory next door. The site was sold for £13m in…

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Gantries inside interior The Snow Factory Soda Ash Works Wallerscote Island Northwich Urbex Urban exploration Adam X Urban Exploration Photo photos photographs UK March 2015 report abandoned disused derelict decay decayed

Explore #129: Wallerscote Island Soda Ash Works, aka The Snow Factory, Northwich – March 2015

After our quick explore of the House of the Soldier’s Widow we were in the mood for something larger and more industrial, so pressed on to this huge Soda Ash works… History Founded by industrial chemists John Brunner and Ludwig Mond, whose partnership began in 1873, the Winngton Works soda ash factory was built in Northwich due to its situation on a 600-foot thick bed of salt and proximity to the Buxton limestone quarries. Soda ash (sodium carbonate) is a…

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Thamesteel sheerness Thames Steel Urbex Urban exploration steel works mill industry industrial Adam X Urban Exploration Photo photos photographs UK March 2015 report abandoned disused derelict decay decayed

Explore #125: Thamesteel Steelworks, Sheerness, Kent – March 2015

After our unexpected success in exploring Finsbury Park reservoir, fellow explorer Nick and I continued our drive South, and rolled in to Sheerness just before dawn. History (amended and abridged from here and here) Thamesteel is a large former steel foundry and steel rolling site in Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Construction was given the go-ahead in 1971, and completed in 1972 at an initial cost of circa £10m (over £100m in today’s money). The works, owned…

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