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Report - - ICI Plant Protection Division // Fernhust Chemical Research Station- Surrey- July 2020 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - ICI Plant Protection Division // Fernhust Chemical Research Station- Surrey- July 2020

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Tom Ellis

TJExplore
28DL Full Member
This site has for sure become a regular for me. Its easy to get to, a huge site and, despite there being an active building (The Aspinal of London Headquarters) attached, there's little to no security on site during closed hours.

The History
The Fernhurst Research station was a weed killer research facility for protecting the fruit industry from weeds.

The ICI Plant Protection Division were founded in 1926, they moved into the site in 1945 with the intent of investigating pest control.
ICI then officially made the location their headquarters in the 70s and it remained this way all the way through to 1994 where the site became apart of Zeneca.
During ICIs occupation in 1986 a new international conference center was opened on the site by the infamous Prime Minister, Margret Thatcher.

The site then later became the headquarters for Syngenta when Zeneca Agrochemicals and Novartis Agribusiness Both merged to become Syngenta.
They then left the site in 2001

The site was then sold off in 2007 to contractors by AkzoNobel.
The offices and laboratory in Fernhurst were officially closed at some point in mid 2008 and the rooms were then later stripped in late 2008.

Many property developer applications and plans have been proposed since, but still yet nothing has yet been agreed and thus the site has just been left.


The Explore
The site is huge. There are 2 outbuildings and a Jaguar, aswell as the huge main building which consists of 3 floors structured in long maze like corridors that you could easily find yourself lost in. There's even an added basement aswell as easy roof access.
We started with the outbuildings, finding various remnants of the previous occupants including name cards, Piles and piles of documents and many other random things. The metal blinds kept rustling in the wind and causing us alot of anxiety until we realized it was only just that, window blinds. We then had a look at the Jaguar and my mechanical minded friend had a look inspect of it, Safe to say that despite of the new paint job the car is fucked. Afterwards we then headed into the main buidling, starting on the bottom east side of the building we worked our way through the maze of corridors through to the top west side. Such rooms included: Toilets, a staff room, two server rooms, 9 stair wells and many many blank office rooms.
Due to all of the vandalism there's barley anything left of the windows and anything in the office rooms. Just broken floor tiles.
We spent a solid 3 hours there taking many photos and using the long straight corridors and extreme overgrowth to our creative advantage and it was alot of fun.

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The main building from the overgrown car park


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Some corridors within the main building
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The basement
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Moreeeeee corridors
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Decided to play with some fire while there
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An old server room
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The view from the roof (Aspinal of london, the active building is pictured on the left)
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Even moreeee corridors and my friend Lorelei
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The abandoned Jaguar outside
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Another corridor, this ones in one of the outhouses
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The main building from an outhouse
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So many documents that date as far back to the 80s and most of them genuinely look freshly printed and brand new
 

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VDUBJack

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I went here not that long ago and it was an amazing place the roof is awesome however I was greeted by some strange looking people not to be horrible but they did look a little hobo like anyway I carried on and then went past they were stripping the wires out the walls which is strange because it looked as if the place had already been gutted I doubt there was much value in there ( I would of said something but didn’t want to cause anything or get them angry when I’m in the middle of no where ) sad really I hate people who steel and vandalise abandoned places because it destroys it for everyone else but hey ho nice place defo recommend if your a beginner !
 

Tom Ellis

TJExplore
28DL Full Member
I went here not that long ago and it was an amazing place the roof is awesome however I was greeted by some strange looking people not to be horrible but they did look a little hobo like anyway I carried on and then went past they were stripping the wires out the walls which is strange because it looked as if the place had already been gutted I doubt there was much value in there ( I would of said something but didn’t want to cause anything or get them angry when I’m in the middle of no where ) sad really I hate people who steel and vandalise abandoned places because it destroys it for everyone else but hey ho nice place defo recommend if your a beginner !
Yeah, I've heard rumors about some mysterious looking people that congregate in the basement of the building, so it could be them. I've never seen them myself but as long as you stay to yourself like you did and do nothing to antagonize them you should be fine.
 

Nyxius1992

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Hi man, me and a few friends are thinking of heading to this location next month for some Photography and videography stuff next month, do you think it's still safe and ok to go? Travelling from around the country to be there for a day, to make a small film and set up some photo stuff, just concerned with safety of my friends and our gear etc, also security if present, thanks
 

mastermind21970

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Yeah, I've heard rumors about some mysterious looking people that congregate in the basement of the building, so it could be them. I've never seen them myself but as long as you stay to yourself like you did and do nothing to antagonize them you should be fine.
They’re homeless... few needles and a like down there. Just be careful, don’t need to turn a corner and get lost. Then get some psycho chasing after you armed with a syringe. Take a heavy bottomed torch with you for protection or something similar, especially on the lower floors. Just simply not worth the risk- I especially wouldn’t advise going somewhere like this alone!
 

Nyxius1992

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Just thought I'd update and advise on the latest visit, I won't disclose the exact day for obvious reasons but in the last week I visited here with 9 other people to do a little filming etc, security guy came around the perimeter in a van literally around 9.30am and approached us as he spotted one of our guys in the side building, seemed pretty chill, just told us the usual, shouldn't be in the building etc, please leave. Anyway we faked leaving and hung around for a bit, once he drove off we made our way into the main building and kept quiet for the whole day, didn't see him again until 3pm when a security car pulled up with a police car and 2 guys got out, safe to say we shit ourselves. We was on floor 3 at the time and they clearly didn't know exactly where we were but they attempted to enter the building to find us. We sat quiet for 15 mins contemplating just walking out to them and owning up as we were just filming some low budget horror stuff but out of some sheer luck we quietly descended down one of the staircases and managed to walk right past the patrol car and out via the public access walk via a hole in the fence. Must have gone around each other in circles and completely missed them. 4 cars parked up in a layby nearby, think we got extremely lucky, but one of our group checked the area out the day prior and there were security perimeter patrols every few hours via van. Might be worth anyone thinking of visiting to hold off for a bit as security seem hot right now
 

Tom Ellis

TJExplore
28DL Full Member
Just thought I'd update and advise on the latest visit, I won't disclose the exact day for obvious reasons but in the last week I visited here with 9 other people to do a little filming etc, security guy came around the perimeter in a van literally around 9.30am and approached us as he spotted one of our guys in the side building, seemed pretty chill, just told us the usual, shouldn't be in the building etc, please leave. Anyway we faked leaving and hung around for a bit, once he drove off we made our way into the main building and kept quiet for the whole day, didn't see him again until 3pm when a security car pulled up with a police car and 2 guys got out, safe to say we shit ourselves. We was on floor 3 at the time and they clearly didn't know exactly where we were but they attempted to enter the building to find us. We sat quiet for 15 mins contemplating just walking out to them and owning up as we were just filming some low budget horror stuff but out of some sheer luck we quietly descended down one of the staircases and managed to walk right past the patrol car and out via the public access walk via a hole in the fence. Must have gone around each other in circles and completely missed them. 4 cars parked up in a layby nearby, think we got extremely lucky, but one of our group checked the area out the day prior and there were security perimeter patrols every few hours via van. Might be worth anyone thinking of visiting to hold off for a bit as security seem hot right now

This is crazy cus when we were there only just a few months ago and there wasn't even the slightest sign of people or security. Sorry to mislead. Just a thought, maybe post about this as information because the site getting more popular, dont want others getting found you know? Just a thought, hope you and your mates are cool now though :)
 

Shanks1001

28DL Member
28DL Member
Went there recently and the place is stripped of anything worth having so I think fewer people are going there now. Some interesting graffiti of varying quality but otherwise it's just broken glass and floor/ceiling tiles strewn everywhere. It is maze of corridors, so to explore it's interesting to wander about. I'd say interesting but certainly not challenging, with easy access through open doors. No sign of any security all the time we were there but some indication that it is occupied although we didn't see anyone. The Jaguar is still there, every picture I've seen on this and other boards it has another layer of colour so I had to get an image for the records ;-)

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washedbatch

28DL Member
28DL Member
Just went today, the place is still pretty sick and easily accessible.

The place has been pretty trashed though, lots of old furniture & the raised floor throughout is missing making some parts harder to navigate, especially the basement.

The roof is cool although you need to be careful of the Aspinal Building next door which is active.

The Jag is gone and the buildings near it burnt, although parts are everywhere including lots of other random car parts scattered around which is quite cool. All the windows have been shot out by someone with a BB gun. Attached some photos to this response. As we were leaving there were three guys who had some tools and seemed like they had been around for a while, although were very friendly.

Overall still a cool place and worth visiting if near, very stripped and damaged though, lots of glass everywhere. Attached some pics to see
 

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