Report - New Bridewell Police station, Bristol - June 2014

[WhoDerpsWins]

Visited with Seffy and End-Proc.

This building has always been regarded as a bit of an eyesore. An eight storey police station that, for the most part, resembles more of an office block. No holding cells unfortunately. This was one building we had on our radar and one sunny afternoon me and Seffy decided to take a closer look. Within a couple of minutes we were in. I went back with End-Proc and again with some others. The basement was full of equipment that was still running. Some other electrical circuits were still on too. As was apparent on the roof when a switch was pulled and a fan turned on blowing out a huge plume of black dust! Had some good times and close calls in here.

History:

New Bridewell opened in 1967 as an extension to the existing Bridewell police station that was built in 1928. Bridewell closed in 2005 and as such New Bridewell became the main divisional police station for the Avon and Somerset constabulary in the centre of Bristol. It stayed this way until March 2012 when they moved into the newly built police station across the road aptly named 'The Bridewell'.

The building was then used by more than 80 small businesses as well as creative projects. Tenants included artists, surfboard makers, photographers, graphic designers and a fashion brand. The art space became known as Bridewell Space which housed SAE Space, a not-for-profit arm of Meanwhile Creative dedicated to incubating new businesses, particularly in the social and environmental sectors.

In April 2014 all tenants were told to leave as the building had been sold and plans approved for it destruction and immediate construction of a 15 storey, 499 bed, student housing block.

Demolition is now in progress and the demolition team are working through the night to take this building down...

On with the pics:

The roof:

The Bridewell, the replacement police station:

The Basement:

It's current status:

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Thanks for looking.​

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

Looks like the Tourist Bus won"t be calling down then lol

Nice ones mate enjoyed looking at these

The interior certainly looks more impressive than the externals that"s for sure

That"s one bloody impressive stand by genset, what"s it to power all of Bristol?

Nice to see they"ve added solar panels onto the new building that"ll save Bristonians some Tax Dollars lol

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Nice work guys, they certainly left a lot behind that's for sure.

Good old Wooldridge must have heard that the place would soon be invaded by the gas mask crew.

 

[WhoDerpsWins]

Looks like the Tourist Bus won"t be calling down then lol

Nice ones mate enjoyed looking at these

The interior certainly looks more impressive than the externals that"s for sure

That"s one bloody impressive stand by genset, what"s it to power all of Bristol?

Nice to see they"ve added solar panels onto the new building that"ll save Bristonians some Tax Dollars lol

Thanks mate. Not sure what the genset was used for. About the only thing not running down there.

 

[Oxygen Thief]

The genset? That big engine? It's a standby generator.

 

[The_Raw]

Good work, looks like it was a pretty interesting place to visit, the basement looks by far the best bit. Cool shots too

 

[WhoDerpsWins]

The genset? That big engine? It's a standby generator.

Had a feeling it was.

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

The genset? That big engine? It's a standby generator.

We"ve always called our standby Gennie"s..... Gensets, maybe it"s a Yorkshire thing ?

 

[WhoDerpsWins]

We"ve always called our standby Gennie"s..... Gensets, maybe it"s a Yorkshire thing ?

I've always known them as UPS (uninterrupted power supply) units. But I guess there would of been a short interruption whilst this beast kicked into life.

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

If that was in one of our Tugs, it"d be at minimum 100 HP so god knows what KVA it"s capable of kicking out the other end?

Wrong colour for a UPS mate

 

[WhoDerpsWins]

If that was in one of our Tugs, it"d be at minimum 100 HP so god knows what KVA it"s capable of kicking out the other end?

Wrong colour for a UPS mate

Oh ok. Not my expertise I must say! Here's a photo from the other side:

 

[Dark Prince]

The gensets in Britstol Union Press over the road were bigger. Nice to see my handy work in pic 16. Fitted the red gearbox/motor units in early to mid 1990's.

DP

 

[Miss Drippy]

Glad we got to play here before its demise. I'm sure the missing ladder was what pushed them over the edge.

 

[WhoDerpsWins]

Glad we got to play here before its demise. I'm sure the missing ladder was what pushed them over the edge.

I only feel partly to blame

 

[Seffy]

Looks familiar… Proper good snappage dude. Love the way you've included photos from different visits in there too tbh.

Still can't believe how we first found our way into this one, and how it suddenly became a chill spot for a few months. There'll be more of course…

Who knows, this demolition/construction work could even open up more opportunities for even older stuff