Here's my first proper industrial site, a refreshing change from the usual manor houses and old red brick buildings that I'm usually drawn to.
After various discussions about the lack of decent sites in Birmingham and itching to find something new, Clebby and I decided to make an early morning visit to Derby to check out Celanese. Having parked up, we spent a good hour assessing the perimeter fence, trying to determine which parts were still live and whether we had been clocked by a chap driving around the site in a Land Rover. We assumed we hadn't or that he wasn't bothered by us....
Eventually we found our way inside (which highlighted my poor climbing skills), aiming to take as much of it in as we could, assuming we were going to be seen by secca or the multiple CCTV cameras around the place. After wandering around rather cautiously, the only time we were spotted was by 2 other explorers, who's forum names I didn't catch and we continued the rest of the explore with them (cool to meet you both and thanks for the ride back to my car
)
For me it was difficult to take in the sheer size of the place, we think we only saw about 1/3 of it in about 6 hours. A hell of a lot of machinery to see, although it can get quite repetitive in some places if that's not your sort of thing. Surprised by the amount of lights left on, another reason why we thought it was only a matter of time before we got busted.
History taken from Wikipedia:
British Celanese was a chemical company based in England. Formed in 1916, it survived as an independent company until 1957 when it became a subsidiary of Courtaulds.
The origins of the company lie with two brothers, Henri and Camille Dreyfus. In 1912 they set up "Cellonit Gesellschaft Dreyfus and Co" in Basel, Switzerland. In 1916 the brothers were invited to live in Britain by the British Government, to produce their recently developed cellulose acetate dope for the war effort; the canvas skins of aircraft of the time were sealed and made taut with nitrocellulose dope, which was easily ignited by bullets. They developed the necessary plant and "British Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co" was registered on March 18, 1916.
The British Government patented the process developed by Henri Dreyfus, which lowered the costs of acetic anhydride production, an important reagent in the production of cellulose acetate. At the end of World War I, the British Government cancelled all contracts and the company changed to produce acetate fibres. In 1923 the company name was changed to British Celanese Ltd, a contraction of cellulose and ease. Softer and stronger, as well as being cheaper to produce than other fabrics used at the time such as satin or taffeta, Celanese was used in the production of garments.
British Celanese was the first factory in Britain to produce propylene and from it isopropyl alcohol and acetone in 1942.
Clarifoil production developed out of cellulose acetate yarn technology. Clarifoil full-scale production commenced from 1947.
Henri Dreyfus died in 1944. Camille Dreyfus died in 1956.
In 1957, British Celanese was taken over by Courtaulds. The site is now operated by Celanese. The plant finally closed after the last shift on Wednesday 14th November 2012.
After various discussions about the lack of decent sites in Birmingham and itching to find something new, Clebby and I decided to make an early morning visit to Derby to check out Celanese. Having parked up, we spent a good hour assessing the perimeter fence, trying to determine which parts were still live and whether we had been clocked by a chap driving around the site in a Land Rover. We assumed we hadn't or that he wasn't bothered by us....
Eventually we found our way inside (which highlighted my poor climbing skills), aiming to take as much of it in as we could, assuming we were going to be seen by secca or the multiple CCTV cameras around the place. After wandering around rather cautiously, the only time we were spotted was by 2 other explorers, who's forum names I didn't catch and we continued the rest of the explore with them (cool to meet you both and thanks for the ride back to my car
)For me it was difficult to take in the sheer size of the place, we think we only saw about 1/3 of it in about 6 hours. A hell of a lot of machinery to see, although it can get quite repetitive in some places if that's not your sort of thing. Surprised by the amount of lights left on, another reason why we thought it was only a matter of time before we got busted.
History taken from Wikipedia:
British Celanese was a chemical company based in England. Formed in 1916, it survived as an independent company until 1957 when it became a subsidiary of Courtaulds.
The origins of the company lie with two brothers, Henri and Camille Dreyfus. In 1912 they set up "Cellonit Gesellschaft Dreyfus and Co" in Basel, Switzerland. In 1916 the brothers were invited to live in Britain by the British Government, to produce their recently developed cellulose acetate dope for the war effort; the canvas skins of aircraft of the time were sealed and made taut with nitrocellulose dope, which was easily ignited by bullets. They developed the necessary plant and "British Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co" was registered on March 18, 1916.
The British Government patented the process developed by Henri Dreyfus, which lowered the costs of acetic anhydride production, an important reagent in the production of cellulose acetate. At the end of World War I, the British Government cancelled all contracts and the company changed to produce acetate fibres. In 1923 the company name was changed to British Celanese Ltd, a contraction of cellulose and ease. Softer and stronger, as well as being cheaper to produce than other fabrics used at the time such as satin or taffeta, Celanese was used in the production of garments.
British Celanese was the first factory in Britain to produce propylene and from it isopropyl alcohol and acetone in 1942.
Clarifoil production developed out of cellulose acetate yarn technology. Clarifoil full-scale production commenced from 1947.
Henri Dreyfus died in 1944. Camille Dreyfus died in 1956.
In 1957, British Celanese was taken over by Courtaulds. The site is now operated by Celanese. The plant finally closed after the last shift on Wednesday 14th November 2012.
Here's a couple of external shots taken from the internet as I failed to get any except for the last shot.
Employee canteen
Not a bad view to end the day
