Hi All. This is my first report so any pointers and constructive criticism are gratefully appreciated!
HISTORY
I couldn't find much official history on this place but the building has been there for as long as I can remember. Some basic info courtesy of a certain encyclopedic website...
"South Essex College of Further and Higher Education is a further education college located over three main sites in Basildon, Southend-on-Sea and Grays in Essex. The college provides courses for students of all ages, from 14 to 19 year-olds to undergraduates, adults and businesses.
The college was originally founded in 1899 as an art school and was later renamed as the Junior Day Technical School with the curriculum being restructured to include commercial and industrial skills for education in courses like plumbing. The college became South East Essex College of Arts and Technology in 1991.
In 2004, the college building in Southend relocated to a new £52m campus in the centre of Southend as this site was closer to main public transport routes, the high street and right next to the Southend Central mainline railway station. This has left the old campus site empty since.
The site has long been under consideration for redevelopment, initially into student accommodation and then a residential block of flats but, like much of the derelict buildings along Victoria avenue, this has yet to happen."
THE EXPLORE
A solo visit. I have long wanted to take a look around the empty campus but due to being in a less then ideal location (between a busy residential street directly overlooked by the busy council/registry offices, numerous CCTV cameras and, of all things, Southend nick!) and the place being locked down pretty tight I have never previously made a serious attempt. However, on a sunny Saturday morning with the Mrs at work and nothing better to do I decided it was worth a shot.
The site is pretty massive but due to various reasons I wasn't able to make it into the main building on the day but did manage to access a smaller second building which I hadn't even know was there (the site is like a jungle in places, it was well hidden!) so all was not completely lost.
After a couple of hairy moments (no pun intended) involving one big fox and a startled cat I was inside and able to spend a good couple of hours undisturbed before leaving quietly.
The red arch once straddled the pathway leading to the main rear entrance to the building, now completely overgrown.
The main conference hall of the second building. The window looks directly out Southend Constabulary's main carpark
Haven't seen any of these since I was at college myself!
Hope you enjoy!
Jobs a goodun, all fixed! 
