real time web analytics
Report - - CEMEX Floors Cement Plant, Rochester - January 2020 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - CEMEX Floors Cement Plant, Rochester - January 2020

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

Llama

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
"There's a camera up there, wonder if it's live?... oh yep! it just swivelled around towards us!" ... That soon sent us running.

The CEMEX Floor Cement Plant in Halling, Rochester, was once one of the largest concrete production firms in Kent, creating a variety of concrete floors, bricks, paving and various other construction materials daily. However, in 2000 the plant entered its decommissioning phase, and by 2009, all forms of production had officially ceased to operate, leaving it standing empty and derelict ready for demolition.
Although the majority of the site was torn down shortly after its closure, 2 of its concrete silos still remain, along with one of its main production houses, and so of course... we just had to get involved ;)

So, after finally coming up with a convenient time and date, @Kidney and I thought we'd take a look at this industrial giant, and what a giant it was...
The initial plan was to make it inside whilst we still had daylight, as light painting our images would be far from ideal due to the proximity of the security hut to the main building.
[REMOVED} :mad:

Now, with the sun rapidly dipping, our plan to utilise the daylight for our images seemed somewhat unrealistic, so we resigned ourselves to the fact we'd have to take a chance on light painting...hey ho!
After cautiously wandering through the back of the site among the many piles of rubble and heaps of earth, we'd made it to the main building, and fortunately, site security hadn't yet discovered the destroyed door (thank God) and we were swiftly inside.
It came as a pleasant surprise to us just how much original equipment they'd left lying around, all the conveyors, box packaging machines, electricity panels etc, were all left intact and unvandalised, it was certainly something of a gold mine, to say the least.
Once @Kidney and I had just about managed to crawl through the pigeon shite covered conveyor, we were through to the 2nd floor, and began to light paint what we could, trying our best to avoid the broken windows to not make our presence known, should there be someone still left on site. We worked our way up all 4 floors, repeating the same photographic process, snapping shots of anything and everything that seemed worthwhile, all whilst treading as lightly as possible in order to not kick up the many layers of dust and cement powder.
After we'd reached the top floor, and stumbled our way through one of the many narrow, pipe filled corridors, I soon realised roof access was just 1 door away, and so we worked a bit of the old magic, and as if by miracle popped right open...
It was a bitterly cold night, and so after just half an hour or so of rattling off a few shots of the River Medway, we began to make our way downstairs and in the direction of our exit point. Unfortunately, as we tried leaving, the camera I'd spotted on the way in decided to suddenly spin around and look directly at us, and right there was our cue to start running... (thankfully, it all turned out to be okay, phew)

All in all, a great evening's worth exploring, glad I finally got this place ticked off the list :D

1.

837210


2.

837211


3.

837213


4. (Who can spot @Kidney in this one ;))

837212


5.

837214


6. (The main packaging machine)

837215


7.

837216


8.

837217


9.

837218


10. (Possibly some form of control room)

837219


11.

837220


12.

837221


13.

837223


14.

837224


15.

837225


16.

837226


17. (Riverside view from the roof)

837229


18. (The duel silo building, sadly entry wasn't possible)

837230


19. (There's always time for a selfie :p)

837231



~ That's it for now people, thanks for stopping by ~
_____________________________________________________________






 

Llama

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Nice job! Although there has been a considerable amount took down, there is still some interesting features.
Cheers man, think I'm about 10 years too late for the chimney lol, the site would've been immaculate in 2010
 

Kidney

Weirdy Beardy
28DL Full Member
You covered the events of the evening really well @LashedLlama wasnt expecting too much out of this place but had just enough Derpyness to make it good. Photos are nicely lit, was that the dual light painting? You need to get yourself a Lenser now

Yeah I remember the "main event" but wasnt exploring then....actually remember the whole lot live when it was Blue Circle! Huge site.

Probably best we dont return too soon though.
 

Llama

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
You covered the events of the evening really well @LashedLlama wasnt expecting too much out of this place but had just enough Derpyness to make it good. Photos are nicely lit, was that the dual light painting? You need to get yourself a Lenser now

Yeah I remember the "main event" but wasnt exploring then....actually remember the whole lot live when it was Blue Circle! Huge site.

Probably best we dont return too soon though.
Yeh mate absolutely, I think a lenser is on the cards of new kit to buy haha. Was certainly one awesome explore :D yeh the majority of those pics were duel light painted :) plus a bit of editing to make them a tad brighter, once again cheers for the lift back aye ;)
 

Kidney

Weirdy Beardy
28DL Full Member
Can you be careful what you include in the write up, I've edited it now :thumb

I was going to mention that to him last night but fell asleep before I could!
Yeh mate absolutely, I think a lenser is on the cards of new kit to buy haha. Was certainly one awesome explore :D yeh the majority of those pics were duel light painted :) plus a bit of editing to make them a tad brighter, once again cheers for the lift back aye ;)
No worries dude, wasnt going to leave you stranded. Lol yeah get a decent torch then learn to focus your beam. Much more even light
 

Llama

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Can you be careful what you include in the write up, I've edited it now :thumb
Yeh apologies mate, I’ll be more careful in future. I suppose I was just trying to highlight the difficulty we had with entry. Maybe I said a bit to much
 

Llama

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I was going to mention that to him last night but fell asleep before I could!

No worries dude, wasnt going to leave you stranded. Lol yeah get a decent torch then learn to focus your beam. Much more even light
Yeh I think I might’ve said a bit to much aye haha
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Like it, the dusty covered machines, shoots etc make for nice shots. My father was very high up in Blue Circle cement, as mentioned above. He managed sites all over Kent. So im guessing this one too would of been managed by him & others. Nice to see it, as my dad died at 30. So to see this is quite good for me. Thank you :D
 

Llama

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Like it, the dusty covered machines, shoots etc make for nice shots. My father was very high up in Blue Circle cement, as mentioned above. He managed sites all over Kent. So im guessing this one too would of been managed by him & others. Nice to see it, as my dad died at 30. So to see this is quite good for me. Thank you :D
Ah I see, sorry to hear about your dad, glad you enjoyed the report though :)
 

Who has read this thread (Total: 398) View details

Top