A visit with @Chloe Explores and my daughter on a very soggy day.
Set in the Chilterns is a big sprawling area containing the remains of two factories. one part of the one in the deco style building is known as the ballroom and was most recently used by a fire prevention company previous to closure.
the deco style building is huge and split in to two sections, one with a beautiful and colourful but very leaky roof and the other is quite clearly the place referred to as the ballroom by the locals, although i’ve no idea if it was ever actually a ballroom at some point as couldn’t find any information. we were right in our guess that the site was used by the military at some point.
the ballroom and adjoining room contain homemade skate ramps and are a graffiti haven. there is some pretty cool artwork in the other building that stands separately that has been wreck by vandals.
had the weather been nicer we would have explored the whole site but as it wasn’t we just stuck to the two buildings we could see. it was a nice chilled explore in the quietness of the countryside and the only person we encountered was someone who pulled up just as we were leaving in the car. no idea if they were security or what.
History :
Two buildings are located on the Northern side of the site, one of which is known as the ‘Ballroom’, which had been in office use and an additional office building. Both of these buildings are vacant.
The site was established as a military munitions factory built to meet a national need in the 1940’s. From the 1950’s it was used as a manufacturing facility by Molins for tobacco making machinery, before its purchase by the current owners.
Molins Tobacco owner Jose S Molins began making cigars and hand-rolling cigarettes in Havana in 1874. After having spent time in America, he moved to London. In 1911 his two sons, Harold and Walter, devised a machine that could make almost any kind of packet from cigarette packs to large cartons for tea. The Molins Machine Company was founded in 1912. In 1924 the first cigarette maker, the Mark 1 (Mk 1), was patented and by 1928 was running at 1,000 cigarettes per minute. Also in 1928 the Thrissell Engineering Company (later to become Masson Scott Thrissell) was acquired. In 1931 the Company opened a site in Richmond, Virginia, in the heart of the US tobacco industry.
In July 1976, the Company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The 1980s, however, was a difficult time for the Group. No longer a private company and with a high sales and achievement record, Molins proved to be an attractive proposition for speculative "corporate raiders". This period saw many senior management changes and a series of battles to fight off predatory take-over bids. The Company emerged stronger and more focused. The mid-1990s saw a period of acquisition, spurred on by the excellent profitability of the Tobacco Machinery division. The Company began a strategy of developing a packaging machinery business by organic growth and by acquisition. In November 1994, Sandiacre Packaging Machinery Ltd, a leading manufacturer of vertical form fill and seal equipment based in Nottingham, was purchased. The business of Rose Forgrove, which was acquired in 2001, was integrated into Sandiacre's Nottingham facility. Sandiacre Rose Forgrove was subsequently sold in 2006.
in August 2009 demolition work began on the site and In place of the offices and factories will be a 25-acre data centre, which will need a power feed the size of a town of 77,000 homes when fully operational.
a timeline i found -
the site was originally developed for weapons manufacture during World War II. 1950 Molins opened a ‘new major factory’ in Saunderton.
1950 - 2008 owned and operated by Molins who now make packaging and cigarette manufacturing machines.
From about 2005 the site was subdivided and let as a mix of office and light industrial accommodation.
2007 following the loss of a major tenant, Molins put the site up for sale asking £18.85m.
2008 site bought by e-shelter, a German internet datacentre company.
2008 planning permission granted for a data centre which was sensitively designed with green roofs to have a low visual impact.
2009 main factory demolished leaving two buildings standing totalling about 2,500m2 which remain today. January 2014 The site was subsequently bought by English Residential Land Partnership, a property management fund, for £7m.
During 2015: February St Congar applied for planning permission for 212 houses on behalf of ERLP.
Old ariel view from 1952. Sadly unable to find information about the munitions factory
Set in the Chilterns is a big sprawling area containing the remains of two factories. one part of the one in the deco style building is known as the ballroom and was most recently used by a fire prevention company previous to closure.
the deco style building is huge and split in to two sections, one with a beautiful and colourful but very leaky roof and the other is quite clearly the place referred to as the ballroom by the locals, although i’ve no idea if it was ever actually a ballroom at some point as couldn’t find any information. we were right in our guess that the site was used by the military at some point.
the ballroom and adjoining room contain homemade skate ramps and are a graffiti haven. there is some pretty cool artwork in the other building that stands separately that has been wreck by vandals.
had the weather been nicer we would have explored the whole site but as it wasn’t we just stuck to the two buildings we could see. it was a nice chilled explore in the quietness of the countryside and the only person we encountered was someone who pulled up just as we were leaving in the car. no idea if they were security or what.
History :
Two buildings are located on the Northern side of the site, one of which is known as the ‘Ballroom’, which had been in office use and an additional office building. Both of these buildings are vacant.
The site was established as a military munitions factory built to meet a national need in the 1940’s. From the 1950’s it was used as a manufacturing facility by Molins for tobacco making machinery, before its purchase by the current owners.
Molins Tobacco owner Jose S Molins began making cigars and hand-rolling cigarettes in Havana in 1874. After having spent time in America, he moved to London. In 1911 his two sons, Harold and Walter, devised a machine that could make almost any kind of packet from cigarette packs to large cartons for tea. The Molins Machine Company was founded in 1912. In 1924 the first cigarette maker, the Mark 1 (Mk 1), was patented and by 1928 was running at 1,000 cigarettes per minute. Also in 1928 the Thrissell Engineering Company (later to become Masson Scott Thrissell) was acquired. In 1931 the Company opened a site in Richmond, Virginia, in the heart of the US tobacco industry.
In July 1976, the Company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The 1980s, however, was a difficult time for the Group. No longer a private company and with a high sales and achievement record, Molins proved to be an attractive proposition for speculative "corporate raiders". This period saw many senior management changes and a series of battles to fight off predatory take-over bids. The Company emerged stronger and more focused. The mid-1990s saw a period of acquisition, spurred on by the excellent profitability of the Tobacco Machinery division. The Company began a strategy of developing a packaging machinery business by organic growth and by acquisition. In November 1994, Sandiacre Packaging Machinery Ltd, a leading manufacturer of vertical form fill and seal equipment based in Nottingham, was purchased. The business of Rose Forgrove, which was acquired in 2001, was integrated into Sandiacre's Nottingham facility. Sandiacre Rose Forgrove was subsequently sold in 2006.
in August 2009 demolition work began on the site and In place of the offices and factories will be a 25-acre data centre, which will need a power feed the size of a town of 77,000 homes when fully operational.
a timeline i found -
the site was originally developed for weapons manufacture during World War II. 1950 Molins opened a ‘new major factory’ in Saunderton.
1950 - 2008 owned and operated by Molins who now make packaging and cigarette manufacturing machines.
From about 2005 the site was subdivided and let as a mix of office and light industrial accommodation.
2007 following the loss of a major tenant, Molins put the site up for sale asking £18.85m.
2008 site bought by e-shelter, a German internet datacentre company.
2008 planning permission granted for a data centre which was sensitively designed with green roofs to have a low visual impact.
2009 main factory demolished leaving two buildings standing totalling about 2,500m2 which remain today. January 2014 The site was subsequently bought by English Residential Land Partnership, a property management fund, for £7m.
During 2015: February St Congar applied for planning permission for 212 houses on behalf of ERLP.
Old ariel view from 1952. Sadly unable to find information about the munitions factory
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