Been meaning to post this one for a while now but other things got in the way.
History of Selly Oak Hospital
The first buildings on the site of Selly Oak Hospital were those of the King’s Norton Union Workhouse, built in 1834. Over the years the site was expanded, an infirmary was added in 1897 and in 1907, further extensions saw additions to the infirmary and the workshouse. Facilities were improved 1911, adding in an operating theatre, physiotherapy department, and X-ray services. By 1929 there were seven full-time members of medical staff and the residency section was built. New operating theatres were added in 1931, and the hospital continued to grow, until its closure in 2012.
Since 2015 the site has been approved for the development of 650 new homes. Work on building these homes had already commenced when we visited, and much of the original hospital had already been demolished.
Report
After a walk around the perimeter, we found that most of the main building had already been demolished. Whilst part of it remained, construction around the area was very active, making it difficult for us to envision a way in. In fact, with construction workers all over the place, we weren’t initially very confident that we would get into any part of the remaining buildings!
After some scouting, we had a lucky break. The main site entrance, used by workers to access the main hospital building area was completely open, and not guarded. With additional buildings remaining on the other side, we managed to quickly skip over the fencing and run towards the therapy services buildings from the main road without being seen. Once inside our first building, we could pretty much wander about with little trouble.
Funny thing happened while we were on site. I tweeted a joke about builders being slack allowing us to get straight in, and a local small news site picked it up, and quoted my tweet as 'SECURITY ISSUES AT SELLY OAK'. Probably should have waited until we left but no one showed up. Then, after I published the report on my blog, they contacted me again asking for permission to use my pictures for an article. I did contemplate saying no in case I ended up stuck in some article about people breaking into abandoned sites, but considering we technically didn't do anything wrong, and couldn't get into trouble, I thought what the hell.....
A week later they published a really nice piece on how it's a shame the site is being demolished and how much history is being lost, and they put my pictures alongside some older ones of the site when it was still in use, to show a then and now type comparison
Enjoy!
You can read my full experience, and check out a few more images on my website.
History of Selly Oak Hospital
The first buildings on the site of Selly Oak Hospital were those of the King’s Norton Union Workhouse, built in 1834. Over the years the site was expanded, an infirmary was added in 1897 and in 1907, further extensions saw additions to the infirmary and the workshouse. Facilities were improved 1911, adding in an operating theatre, physiotherapy department, and X-ray services. By 1929 there were seven full-time members of medical staff and the residency section was built. New operating theatres were added in 1931, and the hospital continued to grow, until its closure in 2012.
Since 2015 the site has been approved for the development of 650 new homes. Work on building these homes had already commenced when we visited, and much of the original hospital had already been demolished.
Report
After a walk around the perimeter, we found that most of the main building had already been demolished. Whilst part of it remained, construction around the area was very active, making it difficult for us to envision a way in. In fact, with construction workers all over the place, we weren’t initially very confident that we would get into any part of the remaining buildings!
After some scouting, we had a lucky break. The main site entrance, used by workers to access the main hospital building area was completely open, and not guarded. With additional buildings remaining on the other side, we managed to quickly skip over the fencing and run towards the therapy services buildings from the main road without being seen. Once inside our first building, we could pretty much wander about with little trouble.
Funny thing happened while we were on site. I tweeted a joke about builders being slack allowing us to get straight in, and a local small news site picked it up, and quoted my tweet as 'SECURITY ISSUES AT SELLY OAK'. Probably should have waited until we left but no one showed up. Then, after I published the report on my blog, they contacted me again asking for permission to use my pictures for an article. I did contemplate saying no in case I ended up stuck in some article about people breaking into abandoned sites, but considering we technically didn't do anything wrong, and couldn't get into trouble, I thought what the hell.....
A week later they published a really nice piece on how it's a shame the site is being demolished and how much history is being lost, and they put my pictures alongside some older ones of the site when it was still in use, to show a then and now type comparison
Enjoy!
You can read my full experience, and check out a few more images on my website.
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