This one might take a bit of explaining
BOC (British Oxygen Corporation) specialised in the production of gases in a wide variety of industries. The manufacturing of cars (ironic), steel , electronics, glass, produce transport, food and drink, healthcare and the environment meant they had a lot of money. Moving out of their main premises in Hammersmith they wanted somewhere to have the space and freedom to build what they wanted.
The design of the building reflects in the company operations. Looking at the diagram of an water molecule and the shaping of a snowflake, its quite easy to understand. The hexagonal centre is where every part stems from, with each 'wing' being a water molecule, being one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. "Underlying the design were two key concepts. The first was that the building should be low level to blend in with its surroundings. The second was that it should have a central hub with radiating wings, connected with overhead walkways creating a separate entry and exit."
Below is a comparison of what it was to how it is today.
So what happened to this place? In 2011 BOC moved headquaters. The owner of Kamkorp, Kamal Siddiqi purchased the land with the hopes of extending the building and shoving a damn monorail in the back garden to become one of those quirky startup companies with ''visions of the future".
Kamkorp began losing money. Fast.
They owned frazer-nash research and bristol cars. Two companies developing various things however known to spend a lot of money with not much result. As you will see bristol cars is a main example of this. Bristol cars recently went into liquidation along with all Kamal's other companies, and a disgruntled spokesperson on the bristol cars website put it best: (Just last night this post was removed)
"Our blind self interest, total lack of management skills, fiscal incompetence (not to mention stupidity and nepotism) caused this once proud British marque to once again fall into receivership. If we had any honour, we would apologise to the individuals and suppliers who have been left out of pocket. But we don't and won't. We don't even pay our own staff. Lets face it, it's not the first time - you should have done your research. A quick google search would have shown our history of non-payment, defaults and cynical ordering of services and supplies while there's no cash in the kitty.
Meanwhile, we're busy on our next phase of fleecing investors, suppliers and staff while i add to my impressive stable of Ferrari's, Porsche's, Mercedes' and Rolls Royce's at my large private estate.
So it look like they saw this coming a long time ago. On their website they still proudly advertise their new production car, the Bristol bullet, something i'll show later.
On with the photos of the building. This explore was worryingly easy. Avoiding the poorly placed PID alarms (nothing better than a northern accent telling you to fuck off in the middle of the southern countryside) and walking about the place its clear they had no budget to get any security.
Many spoke about accessing through small gaps, just remember to try the door first lads
The architecture is fabulous. The exact kind of stuff i studied for years i'm now exploring having been left ripped apart since 2011. Interestingly either when BOC left or kamkorp and their infinite wisdom decided to rip out everything down to the flooring. Literally nothing remains but the shell.
So this is where it got unexpected. Entering the basement we weren't expecting much. What it turned out to be is the storage place used for the auction of all assets of Bristol cars. Here lay absolutely everything. Random nuts and bolts, number plates and tools all the way to a working prototype of the bristol bullet, a car never even released.
The auction concluded recently so this place will now be highly active with stuff being moved about. Security have also picked up from many people on Facebook and some YouTube goons even showing off that the daily mail posted on their photos. What a shame.
These cars aren't abandoned but i know some will appreciate seeing these.
Bristol 441 Series 4. 6.5l Chrysler V8 and only 23k miles.
Panel fabrication bucks for practically every bristol car ever made. These sold at minimum for 5k each.
This one i found the most interesting. A collection of Bristol Bullets in various states of assembly, with the centre one being practically complete, just not having been registered. Full write up:
1. THE ASSETS ASSOCIATED WITH ‘PROJECT PINNACLE’ (THE 2016 BRISTOL BULLET)
Including the first ever assembled car (yet to be homologated), eight Morgan Aero 8 rolling chassis with fitted BMW V8 engine, gearbox & running gear (all with keys).
Assembly jigs and some body panels, twelve wheels, lights and some other parts and the digital design drawings for the project.
2. THE COMPLETE LIBRARY OF DESIGN DRAWINGS AND ASSOCIATED ARCHIVE FROM THE PRODUCTION HISTORY OF BRISTOL CARS LIMITED
Comprising twelve multi drawer plans chests containing physical design drawings, digitally held designs relating to the Bristol Fighter car and archive of historic documentation.
Individual offers are invited for these two parcels of assets or as a combined parcel.
1964 Bristol 409 Bullet Speedster. This car is one of a kind, originally produced as this one prototype and concluded its not popular enough for production. Now this car is expected to be worth around £120k.
The original prototype for the bristol fighter (Car number 000). Only about 15 of these exist, so i wouldn't be surprised if this kit including the engine and interior parts sold for 6 figures.
As of now the auction has concluded and security is manned. Don't expect to find these cars still here.
All 90 photos of this explore can be seen here
BOC (British Oxygen Corporation) specialised in the production of gases in a wide variety of industries. The manufacturing of cars (ironic), steel , electronics, glass, produce transport, food and drink, healthcare and the environment meant they had a lot of money. Moving out of their main premises in Hammersmith they wanted somewhere to have the space and freedom to build what they wanted.
The design of the building reflects in the company operations. Looking at the diagram of an water molecule and the shaping of a snowflake, its quite easy to understand. The hexagonal centre is where every part stems from, with each 'wing' being a water molecule, being one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. "Underlying the design were two key concepts. The first was that the building should be low level to blend in with its surroundings. The second was that it should have a central hub with radiating wings, connected with overhead walkways creating a separate entry and exit."
Below is a comparison of what it was to how it is today.
So what happened to this place? In 2011 BOC moved headquaters. The owner of Kamkorp, Kamal Siddiqi purchased the land with the hopes of extending the building and shoving a damn monorail in the back garden to become one of those quirky startup companies with ''visions of the future".
Kamkorp began losing money. Fast.
They owned frazer-nash research and bristol cars. Two companies developing various things however known to spend a lot of money with not much result. As you will see bristol cars is a main example of this. Bristol cars recently went into liquidation along with all Kamal's other companies, and a disgruntled spokesperson on the bristol cars website put it best: (Just last night this post was removed)
"Our blind self interest, total lack of management skills, fiscal incompetence (not to mention stupidity and nepotism) caused this once proud British marque to once again fall into receivership. If we had any honour, we would apologise to the individuals and suppliers who have been left out of pocket. But we don't and won't. We don't even pay our own staff. Lets face it, it's not the first time - you should have done your research. A quick google search would have shown our history of non-payment, defaults and cynical ordering of services and supplies while there's no cash in the kitty.
Meanwhile, we're busy on our next phase of fleecing investors, suppliers and staff while i add to my impressive stable of Ferrari's, Porsche's, Mercedes' and Rolls Royce's at my large private estate.
So it look like they saw this coming a long time ago. On their website they still proudly advertise their new production car, the Bristol bullet, something i'll show later.
On with the photos of the building. This explore was worryingly easy. Avoiding the poorly placed PID alarms (nothing better than a northern accent telling you to fuck off in the middle of the southern countryside) and walking about the place its clear they had no budget to get any security.
Many spoke about accessing through small gaps, just remember to try the door first lads
The architecture is fabulous. The exact kind of stuff i studied for years i'm now exploring having been left ripped apart since 2011. Interestingly either when BOC left or kamkorp and their infinite wisdom decided to rip out everything down to the flooring. Literally nothing remains but the shell.
So this is where it got unexpected. Entering the basement we weren't expecting much. What it turned out to be is the storage place used for the auction of all assets of Bristol cars. Here lay absolutely everything. Random nuts and bolts, number plates and tools all the way to a working prototype of the bristol bullet, a car never even released.
The auction concluded recently so this place will now be highly active with stuff being moved about. Security have also picked up from many people on Facebook and some YouTube goons even showing off that the daily mail posted on their photos. What a shame.
These cars aren't abandoned but i know some will appreciate seeing these.
Bristol 441 Series 4. 6.5l Chrysler V8 and only 23k miles.
Panel fabrication bucks for practically every bristol car ever made. These sold at minimum for 5k each.
This one i found the most interesting. A collection of Bristol Bullets in various states of assembly, with the centre one being practically complete, just not having been registered. Full write up:
1. THE ASSETS ASSOCIATED WITH ‘PROJECT PINNACLE’ (THE 2016 BRISTOL BULLET)
Including the first ever assembled car (yet to be homologated), eight Morgan Aero 8 rolling chassis with fitted BMW V8 engine, gearbox & running gear (all with keys).
Assembly jigs and some body panels, twelve wheels, lights and some other parts and the digital design drawings for the project.
2. THE COMPLETE LIBRARY OF DESIGN DRAWINGS AND ASSOCIATED ARCHIVE FROM THE PRODUCTION HISTORY OF BRISTOL CARS LIMITED
Comprising twelve multi drawer plans chests containing physical design drawings, digitally held designs relating to the Bristol Fighter car and archive of historic documentation.
Individual offers are invited for these two parcels of assets or as a combined parcel.
1964 Bristol 409 Bullet Speedster. This car is one of a kind, originally produced as this one prototype and concluded its not popular enough for production. Now this car is expected to be worth around £120k.
The original prototype for the bristol fighter (Car number 000). Only about 15 of these exist, so i wouldn't be surprised if this kit including the engine and interior parts sold for 6 figures.
As of now the auction has concluded and security is manned. Don't expect to find these cars still here.
All 90 photos of this explore can be seen here
