I first noticed the old Kodak site about three years ago, but one of the roadside buildings seemed to be live and I couldn’t decide about the rest.
At the time I even asked the security guy on the main gate if the buildings were still used.
He said yes and, noob that I was, I believed him.
Then a couple of weeks ago I got a message from @slayaaa asking if I knew anything about the big roadside building covered in ivy, since it looked promising.
So I made the 15 min drive over to the industrial park and it was now obvious that practically everything that wasn’t actually a live business was derelict/unused.
So credit to @slayaaa for prompting this report.
Nominal History. According to old maps the older buildings mostly date from the mid 1970s, with building 82 on the plan below appearing sometime between 1978 and 1990.
The plant made photographic chemicals and (Eastman) Kodak was a major employer in the region for over 30 years.
However the chemical side of the industry declined with the rise of the digital camera and jobs were gradually lost until the site was sold for redevelopment in 2007.
There are currently several active businesses on what is now Image Business Park including:
- a place that makes brake disks immediately behind building 38.
- a waste recycling operation who use a warehouse attached to building 82 and park their lorries everywhere.
- a company that makes silver-based chemicals, occupying the former Kodak silver nitrate plant (47, partly cut off on the far right of the aerial view).
A large new factory is currently being built on the wasteland on the left-hand (northern) side of the site and the old Kodak buildings on the Acornfield Road side are due to be demolished.
Starting with largest roadside block (38) called ‘powder and solutions’ on the site plan, this seems to have been empty for years - and it really is empty.
Rear view of 38 from the roof of one the little buildings in the middle of the site.
Interior pictures are ordered from the ground floor up.
The chemicals are to do with developing and fixing (A.T.S. is ammonium thiosulphate, a fixer).
At the time I even asked the security guy on the main gate if the buildings were still used.
He said yes and, noob that I was, I believed him.
Then a couple of weeks ago I got a message from @slayaaa asking if I knew anything about the big roadside building covered in ivy, since it looked promising.
So I made the 15 min drive over to the industrial park and it was now obvious that practically everything that wasn’t actually a live business was derelict/unused.
So credit to @slayaaa for prompting this report.
Nominal History. According to old maps the older buildings mostly date from the mid 1970s, with building 82 on the plan below appearing sometime between 1978 and 1990.
The plant made photographic chemicals and (Eastman) Kodak was a major employer in the region for over 30 years.
However the chemical side of the industry declined with the rise of the digital camera and jobs were gradually lost until the site was sold for redevelopment in 2007.
There are currently several active businesses on what is now Image Business Park including:
- a place that makes brake disks immediately behind building 38.
- a waste recycling operation who use a warehouse attached to building 82 and park their lorries everywhere.
- a company that makes silver-based chemicals, occupying the former Kodak silver nitrate plant (47, partly cut off on the far right of the aerial view).
A large new factory is currently being built on the wasteland on the left-hand (northern) side of the site and the old Kodak buildings on the Acornfield Road side are due to be demolished.
Starting with largest roadside block (38) called ‘powder and solutions’ on the site plan, this seems to have been empty for years - and it really is empty.
Rear view of 38 from the roof of one the little buildings in the middle of the site.
Interior pictures are ordered from the ground floor up.
The chemicals are to do with developing and fixing (A.T.S. is ammonium thiosulphate, a fixer).
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