The History
Permanite were an Asphalt contractor based in Matlock. The process of creating asphalt involves the combination of aggregate, bitumen and sand.
Some detail via @Salad_Dodger in a previous thread:
‘The plant took powdered limestone, from several of the local quarries and mixed it with hot bitumen emulsion that was brought down from the refineries of Ellesmere port - this being a by product of the fuel oil refining process.
Mixed the tar / limestone solution was poured into metal moulds on the floor of the big shed and allowed to solidify, then the back breaking process of manually separating and stacking the cooled blocks could begin. I cant remember how many blocks were produced on each shift, but always remember the men that split and stacked these blocks worked incredibly hard.
During the late 80's part of the process was mechanised, from memory Permanite spent alot of money on a shiney new plant that would replace the labourers, but it kept breaking down. Eventually the whole operation was sold to a firm called Ruberoid.’
There are currently plans to build houses on the site.
The Explore
I had planned to spend some time in drains today, but the heavy rain put pay to that. This was a backup plan in the area. On arrival I thought I could hear movement inside part of the building. Eventually two kids emerged. Doing my best to reassure them that I wasn’t some weirdo with a camera, I probably did the opposite. Later I was spotted by another guy walking about on site. Approaching him to ask if I was on his property he laughed and told me that he used to work there and was just walking his dog. He told me a little about his job before leaving me to it.
Some Exterternals
(Excuse the rain spots)
Most of the building site is stripped, smashed and empty, but there’s still some industrial goodness left in the main bit that the metal thieves haven’t yet got their hands on.
The Offices
There were a number of external buildings, but these were the only ones vaguely worth a second look...
The Main Building
This was clearly where all of the hard work was done when the building was in operation. Easy to miss most of this stuff in you stay on ground level as most of this is taken from the more elevated parts of the building...
Worth a visit for the climb to the top levels of the building, if nothing else.
Full set here...
Permanite were an Asphalt contractor based in Matlock. The process of creating asphalt involves the combination of aggregate, bitumen and sand.
Some detail via @Salad_Dodger in a previous thread:
‘The plant took powdered limestone, from several of the local quarries and mixed it with hot bitumen emulsion that was brought down from the refineries of Ellesmere port - this being a by product of the fuel oil refining process.
Mixed the tar / limestone solution was poured into metal moulds on the floor of the big shed and allowed to solidify, then the back breaking process of manually separating and stacking the cooled blocks could begin. I cant remember how many blocks were produced on each shift, but always remember the men that split and stacked these blocks worked incredibly hard.
During the late 80's part of the process was mechanised, from memory Permanite spent alot of money on a shiney new plant that would replace the labourers, but it kept breaking down. Eventually the whole operation was sold to a firm called Ruberoid.’
There are currently plans to build houses on the site.
The Explore
I had planned to spend some time in drains today, but the heavy rain put pay to that. This was a backup plan in the area. On arrival I thought I could hear movement inside part of the building. Eventually two kids emerged. Doing my best to reassure them that I wasn’t some weirdo with a camera, I probably did the opposite. Later I was spotted by another guy walking about on site. Approaching him to ask if I was on his property he laughed and told me that he used to work there and was just walking his dog. He told me a little about his job before leaving me to it.
Some Exterternals
(Excuse the rain spots)
Most of the building site is stripped, smashed and empty, but there’s still some industrial goodness left in the main bit that the metal thieves haven’t yet got their hands on.
The Offices
There were a number of external buildings, but these were the only ones vaguely worth a second look...
The Main Building
This was clearly where all of the hard work was done when the building was in operation. Easy to miss most of this stuff in you stay on ground level as most of this is taken from the more elevated parts of the building...
Worth a visit for the climb to the top levels of the building, if nothing else.
Full set here...
