Bigfoot Building

History

Built in the early 1950s, the colossal factory had gone through many names: English Electric Co. Works, Netherton Works, Bigfoot Building and more. Over the years, it had served some impressive businesses, such as Rolls Royce and boasts a jet-like testing facility at it's rear that would have been used to experiment with turbines for oil and gas industries. In 2008, Rolls Royce confirmed it was set to close the factory with the loss of more than 200 jobs, after a 90 day consultation on the site. A protest march took place on the day of the announcement and a 20,000 person signed petition was handed into 10 Downing Street, however the closure went ahead. Since then, the site has been in between abandonment, sometimes utilising one of it's massive sheds for storage, but the last time this was the case was 2019. Currently, it sits vacant with demolition planned later this year.

Situated on private land, the massive building is visible from the busy road running past it, visibly dilapidated.

Despite it being empty, it was very photogenic and had a few nice features remaining. All positive however, and he explained about the active asbestos in some closed off regions of the structure, also teasing that when the survey was ongoing for this, they found dated switchgear and documents in these 'highly contaminated' spaces, yet he or nobody he knew, had ever been allowed to see it for themselves.

The admin areas run a good portion along the whole factory on either side, with the main entrance being on the opposite.

The first hall, the smallest but also offered the most decay. Looking through a hole in the wall at it, it appeared similar looking and empty.

Hall No.2

Canteen. The power worked all across the structure and probably would in the main halls, too.

The final hall, the biggest one. Void of anything except for fallen pigeon soldiers that hadn't found a gap.

Comparison then and now.

Finally, a little bit of the decaying, sealed off sections that took a bit more work to get inside.