# No pictures, just a question!



## samiileigh (Apr 21, 2012)

So I'm sure most of you will agree when I say I think it's wrong for abandoned places such as an asylum or a hospital to be demolished and built over; It's rare that what will be put in it's place will be anything more than a quick build to make a few quid. I feel strongly about it, as I'm sure most of you do as well and I will never agree with a building being demolished, but I do understand some of them have been left too long and have fallen into a state of disrepair to the point where all they can do is pull it down.

But my question to you guys, and the question I'm always asked is what would you do with it?

If I said to you that I was giving you an asylum for instance, all buildings still intact and in a pretty bad state having been left and forgotten for at least 10 years... What would you do with it?

Turn it into some sort of museum?
Turn it into apartments? A hotel?
A place like that would cost a huge amount to run after being restored (if that's what you'd choose to do) and you'd have to get the money from somewhere.

I've been saying for a while now that my life goal is to own and save at least one building, preferably an asylum... Unfortunately I'm not exactly rolling in money and I don't have millions stashed away. But one day I'll do it, I just have no idea what I'd do with it.

Just thought I'd ask, have a good day!


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## PaulPowers (Apr 21, 2012)

not really a report so it's in the wrong section to start with

Personally I'd run it as a house and have functions and weddings in certain sections to pay for it's upkeep


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## krela (Apr 21, 2012)

Demolish it and built little boxes made of ticky tacky that all look just the same.


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## samiileigh (Apr 21, 2012)

PaulPowers said:


> not really a report so it's in the wrong section to start with
> 
> Personally I'd run it as a house and have functions and weddings in certain sections to pay for it's upkeep



Yeah, I shouldn't have put it in that section, sorry  

It'd be such a gorgeous place to have a wedding once it'd had been restored. I think so anyway.


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## highcannons (Apr 21, 2012)

It's madness to knock any good building down especially if the architecture is good. However, in the case of an asylum if its knocked down and ticky tacky built is that not letting the lunatics run the lunatic asylum? Could that be the fitting end?


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## Seahorse (Apr 21, 2012)

I'd rip out all the walls, turn it into a huge open area. That I would fill with boxes. Inside each box would be a pointless question.

I wonder how long before I ran out of space?


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## cogito (Apr 21, 2012)

I'd ignore any listed status that it might have and just leave it to rot until it falls down. Then I could either obtain planning permission for 9000 new "affordable" homes as it is unsafe to keep the listed building and make a massive profit by putting 100-150 years of history in skips, or I'd have the council step in way too late and take over a restoration project and bill me for it as I was being irresponsible. 

Oh wait...


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## possessed (Apr 21, 2012)

Let me think...
I am no expert, but if I was in charge, I would somehow get the funds for reconversion of these buildings, in a way which preserves the original exterior as much as possible and tries to avoid letting the likes of 'development companies' vandalising the buildings for the sake of another out of town Tesco or more box life affordable homes.


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## UrbanX (Apr 21, 2012)

I think it's a good question. 
I'm forced into a dilemma every day. 
I develop sites for a living. 
To be fair, most have had the buildings removed before I buy them. But a lot of the sites have been on here. (Nelly actually done a better photographic survey than my surveyors) 
I don't have a clue what I'd do if I had such a site just to myself (without my business, money grabbing hat on). 
Good question sir!


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## UEP-Wales (Apr 22, 2012)

A few years back, Barry Island Pleasure Park was on the market and I wanted it big time. We came up with a business plan that would involve bringing the park back to it's former glory rather than knocking it down and went to the bank. 

Now I already run a successful business and dealing with the bank was pretty easy but when they saw that I wanted to bring the park back to life - not interested. The managers exact words were "Take it down, put housing or a hotel, then we will talk". We refused and were turned down for the additional funds that were needed...

Not long after, the park was then leased out by Vernon Studt...it's been left to rot. Sure it's open on the weekends but the rides are crap and nobody bothers going inside. Wires left dangling from defective CCTV units, big rides closed down - it's now just a travellers park.

Later this year or early 2013, it's going to get demolished to make way for a new development.

My point of saying all of this is because a property or even a piece of land can be developed in two ways. If you have an emotional attachment to it, like I did with Barry Island, then I think you will always go for doing the place up but if you have no idea on the history of the building / land - you will put your money grabbing hat on like UrbanX says and do what the bank managers would love - demolish and build expensive houses. 

I think that most of the companies that purchase land don't care about what's on there, inside it or around it. They don't care about the memories that people have about it. I am currently doing a personal project on a hospital that has closed down, it's where my Nan passed away when I was younger, it's where my brother was born. The building has a huge amount of memories for me trapped inside but it's going for housing. Thankfully, I am lucky enough to have gained permission to photograph the site as it has more security than rooms!
It's about to make way for 82 houses. If it was me though, I would have gone for either a Private Hospital (It's in the family) or to be honest, even something like a nursery / primary school. 

Whilst I've brought up this project, I just want to say a massive thank you to UrbanX for his help the last few days! He hasn't only helped with this project but with another 3 or 4 explores! Thanks dude! 

Sorry for rambling on here, Im in a typing mood!


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## flyboys90 (Apr 22, 2012)

Urbex-SW said:


> A few years back, Barry Island Pleasure Park was on the market and I wanted it big time. We came up with a business plan that would involve bringing the park back to it's former glory rather than knocking it down and went to the bank.
> 
> Now I already run a successful business and dealing with the bank was pretty easy but when they saw that I wanted to bring the park back to life - not interested. The managers exact words were "Take it down, put housing or a hotel, then we will talk". We refused and were turned down for the additional funds that were needed...
> 
> ...



Very true!


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## Derelict-UK (Apr 22, 2012)

make it into an hostel for the homeless.


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## samiileigh (Apr 22, 2012)

UrbanX said:


> I think it's a good question.
> I'm forced into a dilemma every day.
> I develop sites for a living.
> To be fair, most have had the buildings removed before I buy them. But a lot of the sites have been on here. (Nelly actually done a better photographic survey than my surveyors)
> ...



You're a rare kind of developer! You seem to have a lot of respect for old buildings and considering you're not the one who knocks them down I don't think you're doing anything wrong. You might as well make use of what's left after the people come in and get rid of the old buildings. 

I think there's so many different options and it always confuses me when I try to think about it. I'd love to just turn it back into the old asylum... try and match all the furniture and décor as much as I could to the original and just sit in it. But I guess you'd need to find some way of being able to raise the funds needed to run such a large place.


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## samiileigh (Apr 22, 2012)

Urbex-SW said:


> A few years back, Barry Island Pleasure Park was on the market and I wanted it big time. We came up with a business plan that would involve bringing the park back to it's former glory rather than knocking it down and went to the bank.
> 
> Now I already run a successful business and dealing with the bank was pretty easy but when they saw that I wanted to bring the park back to life - not interested. The managers exact words were "Take it down, put housing or a hotel, then we will talk". We refused and were turned down for the additional funds that were needed...
> 
> ...




That's horrible!
I can imagine that must have been pretty upsetting. It's hard to believe how many people have just stopped caring. 

I hope you get as much as you can out of the hospital before it's gone, that's a pretty sad story. 


Sorry, I don't really know what else to say! I enjoyed reading this though, and the rest of the posts on this... it's nice to see there are people out there who still care as much as you all do. There's not many like you left Urbex-SW...


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## mersonwhoopie (Apr 25, 2012)

I like the idea of what they have done with The Mall in Reading. Although I hear that anytime the owner wants it back they can just evict the event people and do what they want. But at least its getting used.


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## rectory-rat (Apr 25, 2012)

That's a good question 

I'm hoping to do property development at uni in a couple of years, and I know this is a problem I'll be coming across all the time. I would never want to split a place like an asylum into soulless little flats, and demolition couldn't be an option - somewhere with a past as important and personal as an asylum has to retain its character.

With no money grabbing hat at all, I'd want to have it as a museum, research into past patients, build up life stories and set it all up kind of thing. Maybe offer weddings and conferences or something on the side for upkeep.

But sadly money's always gonna be a factor. They should definitely be protected though, on my opinion. And like you, my dream for a couple of years now has been to buy an asylum and renovate, but I can't see that happening anytime soon...

Sorry I've gone on a bit! 

-RR / Will


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## samiileigh (Apr 25, 2012)

rectory-rat said:


> That's a good question
> 
> I'm hoping to do property development at uni in a couple of years, and I know this is a problem I'll be coming across all the time. I would never want to split a place like an asylum into soulless little flats, and demolition couldn't be an option - somewhere with a past as important and personal as an asylum has to retain its character.
> 
> ...



That would be such an amazing thing to do. 

When I think about it I think about all the old stately homes. 

Quite a few years ago, I went on a school trip to an old stately home (I can't remember for the life of me what it's called) and we were all asked to dress up as servants from that era and we then walked through a tunnel, or "time machine". When we walked out the other side we were met with a huge old stately home and all it's gardens in perfect condition. There were actors everywhere acting out the roles of all the kinds of people you would have found back then. There was sword fighting, old stalls, everything. And you went into the stately home and it just continued, they were cooking all the old food in the kitchens in the old fashioned way. They even had a Lord and Lady. It was an amazing experience, you felt like you were just stepping back in time.

I'd love to be able to do something similar with an asylum, restore it, get in actors and actresses to play nurses, doctors and possibly patients and then charge people to come in and experience it. I guess you would really have to be incredibly careful though, asylums don't really have the cleanest history but you also don't want to sugar coat it, I guess you would just need to find the right balance.

I reckon we need more people like you who care about these places to get into property development. Someone who respects and admires our history and the architecture of old buildings I reckon could possibly leave behind some buildings that future generations can actually be proud of. It seems most buildings going up today are just heartless and like you said soulless quick builds.

It's horrible really.

Good idea though!  

Sorry for rambling haha


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## Urban Ghost (Apr 25, 2012)

cogito said:


> I'd ignore any listed status that it might have and just leave it to rot until it falls down. Then I could either obtain planning permission for 9000 new "affordable" homes as it is unsafe to keep the listed building and make a massive profit by putting 100-150 years of history in skips, or I'd have the council step in way too late and take over a restoration project and bill me for it as I was being irresponsible.
> 
> Oh wait...



This made me genuinely LOL!


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