Please excuse the delay getting these up, hopefully the content will make up for my tardiness..
I'm sure you'll all have seen Boba Low's report, which more than covers the history of Alcan.
In short though, this was the last remaining example of aluminium production in the UK and is currently being decommissioned.
Originally a project of Horus and AJ of course, although they elected to go in while the place was literally crawling with workers! Many Thanks to AJ for intel and advice.
Visited on two occasions three weeks apart. Twice with Boba Low and joined by Tweek for the second trip, we saw the stripping moving rapidly through the pot sheds. Fortunately there's still plenty to see, the rest of the site is untouched with computer screens still up and running.
There is a definite security presence, with a plethora of external cameras winking their little red eyes at you. We also witnessed pretty regular patrols with a car and by the sound of it a scooter also doing the rounds.
They must be doing a reasonble job though, since there's no sign of pikying on a site that was energy hungry enough to require it's own power station.
Our first trip involved at least a couple of hours skulking through the undergrowth before we found a way in, and we bailed after a couple of close calls with security. We did manage to see enough that a return was certain though. Even if it did involve 3 1/2 hours driving each way..
By the time we were able to get back for a second go Boba had been all over google maps like a twelve year old with his first Kays catalog. He'd also spotted what looked like a covered way through from the pots to the rest of the site.
Win!
There'd been a lot of changes internally too, the pot rooms were much, much more stripped. The sections with the lights on had also changed. This wasn't such a bad thing though since it meant that we now had some pots properly lit to shoot. Knowing where we were going now we cracked on and worked through to the rest of the site.
That's it for me from here, but there's still a bit more to see yet. There is a whole ingot moulding and handling plant and a section to the end of the pot sheds that we think houses the transformers and switch gear. I'd be back tomorrow if it wasn't for the distance!
Even with the stripping work well underway, there's still plenty to see here.
Cheers
I'm sure you'll all have seen Boba Low's report, which more than covers the history of Alcan.
In short though, this was the last remaining example of aluminium production in the UK and is currently being decommissioned.
Originally a project of Horus and AJ of course, although they elected to go in while the place was literally crawling with workers! Many Thanks to AJ for intel and advice.
Visited on two occasions three weeks apart. Twice with Boba Low and joined by Tweek for the second trip, we saw the stripping moving rapidly through the pot sheds. Fortunately there's still plenty to see, the rest of the site is untouched with computer screens still up and running.
There is a definite security presence, with a plethora of external cameras winking their little red eyes at you. We also witnessed pretty regular patrols with a car and by the sound of it a scooter also doing the rounds.
They must be doing a reasonble job though, since there's no sign of pikying on a site that was energy hungry enough to require it's own power station.
Our first trip involved at least a couple of hours skulking through the undergrowth before we found a way in, and we bailed after a couple of close calls with security. We did manage to see enough that a return was certain though. Even if it did involve 3 1/2 hours driving each way..
By the time we were able to get back for a second go Boba had been all over google maps like a twelve year old with his first Kays catalog. He'd also spotted what looked like a covered way through from the pots to the rest of the site.
Win!
There'd been a lot of changes internally too, the pot rooms were much, much more stripped. The sections with the lights on had also changed. This wasn't such a bad thing though since it meant that we now had some pots properly lit to shoot. Knowing where we were going now we cracked on and worked through to the rest of the site.
That's it for me from here, but there's still a bit more to see yet. There is a whole ingot moulding and handling plant and a section to the end of the pot sheds that we think houses the transformers and switch gear. I'd be back tomorrow if it wasn't for the distance!
Even with the stripping work well underway, there's still plenty to see here.
Cheers
