Report - Permanite Asphalt Matlock - March 19

bmichelle · Mar 9, 2019

This one has been done a hell of a lot I know but still wanted to check it out!

Stolen History as always:

Permanite Asphalt was incorporated in 1989 and later became known as Ruberoid (part of the IKO Group). According to Companies House, they were dissolved on 2nd September 2016. Located just outside Matlock, the plant made asphalt flooring blocks which were mainly used to waterproof the floors of new buildings.

The plant took powdered limestone from several of the local quarries and mixed it with hot bitumen emulsion that was brought down from the refineries of Ellesmere port, this being a bi-product of the fuel oil-refining process. The mixed tar and limestone solution was poured into metal moulds on the floor of the big shed and allowed to solidify, then the back-breaking process of manually separating and stacking the cooled blocks could begin.

During the late 80's part of the process was mechanised when Permanite spent a lot of money on a shiny new plant that would replace the labourers, but kept breaking down. The site was regulated by the local Derbyshire Dales District Council on the condition that the heating of tar or bitumen is regulated under section 6.3 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations.

Originally, the site was part of the larger Cawdor Quarry complex. It is suggested that the factory closed sometime around 2009.

The explore was pretty good, other than a shit load of kids playing hide and seek. Shame about the burnt areas.