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Tales of the Urban Explorer: Alcan Pechiney Aerospace Industrials

The factory closed in 2007 when production was transferred to France

This is what I read when trying to discover a little history regarding the former Alcon Pechiney plant. Well, that's not quite correct as I found evidence of inhabitants from 2008 within.

It’s long enough for security to leave, and the securities management to not bother paying them anymore.

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While it can be fun trying to evade security, that isn’t the case when @bingbabe is hanging around in the car waiting for me.

Alcan Pechiney’ was a drive-by. The masses of smashed windows immediately alerted my ‘abandoned senses’ and caused me to swerve violently into the only parking space available.

Right outside the front gate; it was here or nowhere and nobody seemed to give a damn.

“Want to join me”, I said optimistically.

She didn't, it was far too creepy looking. Yes, it was, I had to admit but creepy is what I do, and alone at times.

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...how the fuck am I supposed to slide through that gap?...

Talk about tight. This was worse than the late Mary Whitehouse’s vagina. It was October, and I had to strip down to a t-shirt and hope my skin would not be shredded.

To date, that has been the tightest yet and I could feel my chest prickling in anger with the added scrape marks.

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The medical department could possibly find a method to shrink my size thus making it easier to escape ‘Alcan Pechiney’ when I was finished?

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Hopefully, I stepped inside expecting a cohort of nurses to give me aid. My expectations were dashed when I saw the state of it.

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The paperwork could have been generated yesterday, it looked brand new (if you overlook the rusty staple).

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It was a mess in the medical department, but there was paperwork knocking about. Having limited time and seeing the size of ‘Alcan Pechiney’, I did not dither.

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Where to start? The 'Finishing Area' looked promising. Bend down, walk forward and you are in.

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…’Alcan Pechiney was unnerving. I don't generally get the willies but I was feeling it'…

They used to manufacture parts for the aviation industry. I could imagine full planes being in here once.

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Thankfully the warehouse was empty. I had visions of a gang of thugs emerging all armed with crowbars, a combined gleam in their eyes and a scream of 'GET HIM'.

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Beyond the enormous warehouse was yet another. I backtracked, walked around the front of the building noting the 'Main Office' sign, and approached it from the opposite end, giving pause to wave to my wife.

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'yeah, I survived the first part and am still breathing' - came the unspoken words.

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It could have been some sort of reception area once and before the fire hit.

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The melted intercom gave the game away, along with blackened walls. I zoned in on the 'red book'.

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This is why you need to ensure your fire alarm is working correctly. It was being noted as 'faulty' daily.

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Otherwise, your reception area becomes a blackened shell just like this.

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The sign looks as new as that paperwork I spotted earlier.

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Large areas of ‘Alcan Pechiney’ have been demolished. I was quite glad about this. Now it would only take me 2 hours to explore it all shaving around 4 off.

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Which window to climb through? It was overwhelming and I wished I had all those hours to look around.

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I decided to walk up this dodgy alley with the hope I wouldn’t get jumped.

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Entering via a window gave a feeling of safety somehow. Walking past the power boxes I found an office with some more interesting artifacts.

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The shelving looked to contain some kind of paperwork.

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I was not expecting hand-written industrial orders regarding 'Transformers' from 1956.

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They didn’t half write differently in that decade, very cursive. Are 'I.Kelly' and 'J.Walling' still in this world? I very much doubt it.

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This office was wrecked just like the others but had been spared the fire treatment.

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I exited and walked further up the 'alley'. It didn't feel right and I was experiencing some tension.

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The 'Central Engineering Department' was much like the rest of what I could see, but with goodies everywhere.

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They had hardly made any effort to clear away all the old crap before leaving for France.

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£24,000 for a Hydraulic Grip Cylinder? It does weigh over a ton, I guess you get something substantial for your money.

I could have spent some time here; there was no shortage of incriminating paperwork.

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When you get bored, simply walk through the door into the next office as my predecessor did. No need to open it.

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I am guessing there was all manner of confidential information sitting about waiting to be ingested.

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There was no need to jump through the windows, every door was wide open.

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A rusty filing cabinet crammed with British intelligence secrets. @goblinknackers would have loved it.

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One doesn’t know what to photograph when so many documents are on show.

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The view from above; note the table and chairs where the 'hard-workers' would sit, play cards, read The Sun, oogle at the Page 3 girl and drink tea… all day.

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There was plenty more to see, @grindle would love it here (if he can fit through that bloody fence gap). Totally industrial, nobody about, and filled with history.

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Getting out was even worse. Had the bars gone slimmer in anticipation of my exit?

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@bingbabe was chuckling inside the car watching me gain a few more ‘chain marks’ for my troubles.

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