I made my first visit to BIP/British Xylonite/Wardle Storyes litraly the night after the place closed in March 2007, we saw alot that night but back then the site was massive and dark so usable pictures just didnt get taken. After our inital night visit we tryed to go back several times in the day but each time we were thwarted by workers all over the site stripping stuff out (indeed i have fond memorys of being chased down factory lane by to angry guys in a transit van one saturday morning!) On the 3rd time of trying, less then a month after closure, i arrived to find diggers ripping into buildings. I was pissed but it couldnt be helped, we had tryed but a daytime visit just want happening for us!
Fast forward to last summer and id written the place off as demo'd but a tip off from a random guy prompted me to have a quite look on my way down to London one day. To my surprise i found that demo had not been as extensive as i had thought. Athough maybe only a quarter or less of the buildings remained the ones that had been left were the epic ones which include mainly the labs and maintance works. Its worth noting that the site is disected by a railway on a high enbankment. The parts on the far side of the railway are essentialy on an island formed by the rails and river estury, the only link being a small tunnel under the rails big enough for a small truck. I assume this part of the site was left as theres simply no way to get any heavy demo plant over there to rip it down!
I think the previous reports have coverd it well, the labs were stunning, best ever maybe, the workshops awsome too, they had that great 'human' feel to them with graffiti and little 'in' jokes that none of us will ever understand all over the place. The photos here are from July 09 and have been sitting it out for a while in Forfar police station. Back when they were taken things were alot more intact, alot less trashed, burned and generaly pikeyed. Like most sites in the area BIP has suffered alot lately which is a great shame, its a great place, proud to have it on my turf! Hope you enjoy.
Fast forward to last summer and id written the place off as demo'd but a tip off from a random guy prompted me to have a quite look on my way down to London one day. To my surprise i found that demo had not been as extensive as i had thought. Athough maybe only a quarter or less of the buildings remained the ones that had been left were the epic ones which include mainly the labs and maintance works. Its worth noting that the site is disected by a railway on a high enbankment. The parts on the far side of the railway are essentialy on an island formed by the rails and river estury, the only link being a small tunnel under the rails big enough for a small truck. I assume this part of the site was left as theres simply no way to get any heavy demo plant over there to rip it down!
I think the previous reports have coverd it well, the labs were stunning, best ever maybe, the workshops awsome too, they had that great 'human' feel to them with graffiti and little 'in' jokes that none of us will ever understand all over the place. The photos here are from July 09 and have been sitting it out for a while in Forfar police station. Back when they were taken things were alot more intact, alot less trashed, burned and generaly pikeyed. Like most sites in the area BIP has suffered alot lately which is a great shame, its a great place, proud to have it on my turf! Hope you enjoy.
