# Penarth Housing Estate



## UEP-Wales

*Billy Banks Estate - Exploration Report*​
*About the estate - Old & New*

The history on this estate has been covered many times on here any many other sites so won't repeat what others have already said.

I will say though that since most residents left in 1999, 15 remained. 14 later left, leaving just 1 resident who had purchased their home from the council some time ago.

The Billy Banks Estate was split into two phases and rather than knocking both sites down straight away, they left one standing for me to have a play about with!

Onsite there are 16 blocks of flats, a resident and New Age Travellers. Plenty to take photo's of and plenty to see 

*The Recon & Explore*

Knowing that there were still people living at the estate, I felt that doing extensive recon was vital as I didn't really want to be in a tower block to end up having a group of youths or anybody else for that matter coming in to blow the place up - something that has been going on very recently.

Anyway, recon work included speaking to the construction company regarding a demo date, satellite images, road markings (drawn onto the map) and the usual recon photo's and 2 drive-bys, I decided it was time to enter fully.

Parked right outside the entrance point and started to get kitted up. Wife remained in the car keeping an eye out as there was a very high police presence in the area for some reason. Took about 2 hours to walk around half of the site and I avoided the buildings where the resident and travellers are located. I did have alot of fun though in a building with only 2 floor boards, no roof and a 5 floor drop should anything go wrong. Camera went away for this part to keep my mind on staying alive though  maybe another time!

Towards the end of the explore, there was alot of activity around the streets leading to Billy Banks which looked like a large number of youths wanting to go inside but chickened out due to my car being parked there. If you saw the car you would understand 

*The Pictures* 






















Hmm, I don't think they will anymore!





I did buzz but nobody was home...



































Something for the rats to look at...















I hope it's not more bills!





Move into the light...





Just popped by to read your meter










Nothing in the fridge but there was running water in this property...Seriously! 















I love these signs...makes me want to go in even more!






























Bloody mail man always goes to the wrong place!






























The modern way to hang your light switch





The stairway to heaven...maybe hell!


















































Somebody stole my bike and just left this tyre!








































Now I know my house was here somewhere!


















Thank you so much for looking and I hope you like the photo's. It's a great place to go but if you do, watch your step big time even on the street there are huge holes everywhere! If your after any info, give me a shout! (Well an email as depending on where you are, I may not hear you shout!)


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## Landie_Man

What an utter, utter shit hole. It probably looked as bad when it was open. Argh.


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## UEP-Wales

Landie_Man said:


> What an utter, utter shit hole. It probably looked as bad when it was open. Argh.



I've heard that it was quite bad when it was live but it hasn't helped where people have gone back with LPG tanks and blow the place up. Makes a wicked sky light though 

There was a couple of properties that were very tidy inside and after a bit of decoration could be lived in again but as always with councils, money talks. 1.5million for one of the new houses....yep money talks.


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## UrbanX

Wow what a report! "Pripyat of the West" 
Love the write up and pics, nice use of selective saturation.


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## maximus

Simply brilliant!

Love this report.....Probably one of the best I've seen, well done!!!!!


They are the most hideous buildings I've ever seen,was the architect on something?? and to think he/her got paid shed loads to design them....my son has done better out of lego!


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## st33ly

Nice report! 

What car do you have??


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## UEP-Wales

maximus said:


> Simply brilliant!
> 
> Love this report.....Probably one of the best I've seen, well done!!!!!
> 
> 
> They are the most hideous buildings I've ever seen,was the architect on something?? and to think he/her got paid shed loads to design them....my son has done better out of lego!



Thank you so much! It's a great place to walk around and the whole time I was just thinking of all the families that lived in them, raised their children in them. 

Not sure about the architect being on something but there was enough drugs going around the place when in full use (probably still is mind) I do know that it won some awards for it's design.... maybe a shortage of buildings to award in those days 



st33ly said:


> Nice report!
> 
> What car do you have??



I thought somebody might ask. Normal family car, just a couple of covert lights that's not very covert when my 2 year old daughters sat in the drivers seat! (when parked up of course)  (Nothing to do with law though)


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## night crawler

What a depressing looking place even Pripyat looked more cheerfull. Don't know about New age travlers they looked like a load of Pikies mmoved in. Well done for going round.


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## Scaramanger

feeling "thoroughly depressed" just looking at these.. Well done for conveying the grimness of the place in the pictures.
It dosn't look that old. maybe built in the 70's ??

And nicely featured "analogue" porn.....


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## UEP-Wales

Thanks! Yes built in the 1970's so not too long ago really. Personally I feel the reason they have been left in this state is because the council wants Penarth to be a "posh" area and with the Billy Banks Estate standing, it was never going to happen.

I bet they looked ok in their day but after being left empty since around 1999, im shocked anything is still there really.

 the porn mag was very funny. Not sure why anybody would want to look at that in a building that is falling down but hey, what ever floats peoples boats... I don't judge, just take the pics


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## mookster

Properly depressing place that is...one of the areas that is better when it's a pile of rubble!


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## Em_Ux

I enjoyed your report.

Thanks for posting!


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## TiJayLFS

It's always strange looking out across the water from Cardiff Bay and seeing this still standing. Especially with all the redevelopment. However, the rest of Penarth also looks like it's in a time warp...


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## cunningcorgi

Penarth is in a time warp.

Especially down by the pier !


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## dougbrown

wow what a great place to visit. no idea where this is mind..lol


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## Madaxe

Love it when people post pictures of this place.
Excellent report.
Thanks for sharing mate.


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## nelly

I've seen a few reports on this place and you done a great job mate, nice editing too


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## scribble

Wow! What a playground!


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## UEP-Wales

dougbrown said:


> wow what a great place to visit. no idea where this is mind..lol



 Just google "Billy Banks Estate" and you shall be greeted with all of the information you need 

Thanks Madaxe & Nelly, It is such a big place and so much to see there. Just a shame it's stood there for so long not doing anything! Better for me though lol!


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## UEP-Wales

Not sure if it of interest to many but I thought I would share it anyway.

The last remaining resident of the Billy Banks Estate has now signed contracts over to the site developers and has left the site of yesterday.

The travellers still remain there but there has been some major activity today in the form of several high vis jacket people there - maybe getting them out or something I don't know.

Anyway, if you want to pop along, It's probably not going to be there much longer.





_Note the nice shirt & shoes! I really wasn't planning on going here again today!_​


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## Captain-Slow

Its not my thing (UE wise) but you do have a nice collection of pictures to show it to us.


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## UEP-Wales

Obviously I speak for myself here but the interest I have in this place is based on the videos I have seen on youtube. Previous residents talking about their happy memories, their children growing up, family milestones taking place there.

I have walked into flats and seen baby style wallpaper still perfectly on the wall and that's what makes it interesting for me, being a father of 2 (almost 3) I have been able to picture what it would be like if I owned one of those properties.

All in all, I have about 2000 photographs from almost every flat within the remaining part of the estate and even today I found more. The place is very interesting but the biggest shame is that it has been standing there for over 10 years empty when the residents could have remained for a while longer.

I too will miss this place when it has gone but I feel that it's something that should have been done a long time ago.

Thank you for your kind comments on my photos too!


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## alex76

Looks like a little town near me called Corby .. no Corby is worse


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## smiler

I have seen a few reports on this site and found them all enjoyable, Have the copper fairies visited yet?
Thanks for Posting.


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## UEP-Wales

smiler said:


> I have seen a few reports on this site and found them all enjoyable, Have the copper fairies visited yet?
> Thanks for Posting.



Yes big time mate. In fact it was in the press not too long back that the council security patrols (never seen them mind) stopped a truck loading mental up from there. Oh and boilers, kitchens and everything else you could want from a 12 year old derelict council estate 

I personally find this place never ending and enjoy it every time I go there.


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## TeeJF

Is that where the Cardiff people who fight their own shadows all came from?

Great report.


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## UEP-Wales

TeeJF said:


> Is that where the Cardiff people who fight their own shadows all came from?
> 
> Great report.



I believe that it is yes !


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## chambta

Nice jazz mag find!


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## UEP-Wales

*Inside the last one...*

*The house of the last remaining resident of the Billy Banks Estate*

Ok so I thought it would be fitting to enter the house of the last remaining tenant of the Billy Banks Estate. 

The council spent £70,000 securing the Billy Banks Estate with High Security Fences, the type that like to keep your balls as a trophy when you climb them. However, they decided to only do parts of the estate and made them very easy to get around if you paid any attention to their layout.

Anyway, I got a little spooked out at one point and the photographs that are shown below are the result of rushing around the place. The thing that freaked me out...a gas bottle in the middle of a flats living room that stank of gas. I didn't fancy hanging around to long.

*The photographs* 













































































Sorry about the quality of these photographs but hope you like them none the less.


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## Foxylady

Urbex-SW said:


> Sorry about the quality of these photographs but hope you like them none the less.


Don't be daft, those are fantastic pics! Love the camel murel. Well done for documenting the last of it.


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## UEP-Wales

Thanks Foxy! I expected the property to be a little more well maintained but I suppose after 12 years of being one of only 15 remaining tenants, it wasn't going to be a luxury apartment!

I'm still waiting for the travellers to leave to document the building behind them but the place seems a little on edge at the moment, after all, they are all about to be forced to move.

Thanks again


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## rhubarb

What a grim place, the pikeys are welcome to it


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## bonniemcprice

i went here to do a few photos and chickened out! this place gives me the creeps big time i legged it back to my car!! i was walking about there and could not get in anywhere but could hear people inside and freaked me out!! well done you, am glad i get to see what it looks like without going in - what a pansy i am!
thank you x


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## EmZ690

This has been an interesting view. You took some awesome photos there. Can't believe there's a whole estate abandoned though! Incredible and for 10 years to. We get the odd building abandoned around these parts but not a whole estate. 

I thought I'd google this place because I had no clue where it was and I found this story posted on BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11141864 - This was posted in 2010 talking about redevelopment but yet going by your photos they haven't even touched the place still a year later! Terrible.


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## UEP-Wales

bonniemcprice, It is quite a freaky place at certain times. I went there once, I think it was to take the photographs of the last flat, and there were a group of kids coming into the same building as I was in - about 15 of them. 
My answer, make as much noise as possible and make sounds like a perverted drunk man. Worked very well 

EmZ690, Thanks for your comments! The place has just been standing there with nothing being done to it. Even though the place is now fully empty (apart from travellers) the developers have still left it standing and when I asked for a date last week, the answer was, we will knock it down sometime next year but we don't know when.

It's a shame when you think that the families there could have remained in their homes for a few more years.


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## Ratters

Don't tire of this - Great added pics


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## UEP-Wales

Drove past it again the other day whilst around there on my travels and they are starting to tear things down. Floors brought up, some walls knocked down to allow entrance to their vehicles and for some reason they are still spending money on trying to secure parts of it. The place looks worse than Iraq at the moment! 

Photo's to follow hopefully.


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## a_little_feisty

Fantastic report . . . really enjoyed!


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## inceptionwave

Really good report, loved the pictures!


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## rory89

They look horible, but I want to be there... Could posibily be the English/Welsh version of the Cape Flats!

P.s my first post... love the site


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## T4toria

Popped over for a visit yesterday, looks like a bombsite, travellers were packing up and leaving, the end is nigh it seems. Will post report to follow


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## UEP-Wales

From time to time I like to pop down to the Billy Banks Estate and just take some new snaps, the place changes on a daily basis and with the demolition due to start any week now, it's life is on a count down timer.

Here are a few photographs that I took of the estate recently, most concentrate on the worst damaged block of flats.





















































































Thanks for looking at the update!


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## whitelaw

I think I was married to one of the women in the magazines! Amazing that they let a whole housing estate go to ruin when there are so many homeless and more on the way. One cannot help but feel the lives that lived there and the atmosphere of the place - but then isnt that the main hook of urb-ex?


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## UEP-Wales

whitelaw said:


> One cannot help but feel the lives that lived there and the atmosphere of the place - but then isnt that the main hook of urb-ex?



It's the reason that I am hooked to the Billy Banks Estate. No matter which property you go into there is a sign that somebody actually lived there. I could photograph this place all day and night for weeks I think - my addiction is so bad that I am about to have a canvas printed of the place


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## cogito

The expanse of this place is phenomenal, it seems that the half that still remains (lots got demolished last year) keeps having more and more of the houses and flats opened up by the locals constantly, revealing more and more. Good to see some more from there!

For an idea of the scale I highlighted a map a couple of years ago with the streets that lay disused. The half to the east was demolished last year, with just Chichester Road and Highview Road remaining... And it's still massive!






You can get an idea of the expanse from this shot taken from the North East end of the block on Paget Road (can't remember the name of the block.) You can see High View Road in the distant background, beyond that and out of view lies Chichester Road where the bulk of the photos from the OP are shot.






VAST!


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## UEP-Wales

cogito said:


> The expanse of this place is phenomenal, it seems that the half that still remains (lots got demolished last year) keeps having more and more of the houses and flats opened up by the locals constantly, revealing more and more. Good to see some more from there!
> 
> For an idea of the scale I highlighted a map a couple of years ago with the streets that lay disused. The half to the east was demolished last year, with just Chichester Road and Highview Road remaining... And it's still massive!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can get an idea of the expanse from this shot taken from the North East end of the block on Paget Road (can't remember the name of the block.) You can see High View Road in the distant background, beyond that and out of view lies Chichester Road where the bulk of the photos from the OP are shot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> VAST!



I think unless you are down on the estate, you can't tell how big the place is. I sat here and googled it and didn't really look that big on other photographs, went down the next day and was very shocked! I am still shocked to spend 3 hours walking around the place.

I would have loved to see the demolished estate mind. I have seen the odd pic and video but not the same as first hand.


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## eclectic_fence

UrbanX said:


> Wow what a report! "Pripyat of the West" :



Exactly what I was thinking looking at these pics. The sort of explore I dream of.


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## John_D

Great report and pics, but that place is seriously grim:evil:


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## UEP-Wales

What is the fun in setting fire to a building that has already been torched many times before? 

Went down to Billy Banks a few days ago and there were fire engines everywhere with multipul buildings on fire. Ok not very big as fire service got there quickly but just really puzzles me! Made the day more entertaining in terms of getting into the estate without being seen though!


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## djmcambs

great report, well done, looks really spooky, a cross between a war zone and the bronx !!


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## onthebusescrazy

Great pictures love the clunge magazine shot


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## kellisurbex

Visited here myself over the weekend, travellers have moved on and I believe the final resident has sold up too. I couldn't get over the size of the place! This is a great report I'll get a few of my own pics up in the next few days


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## UEP-Wales

kellisurbex said:


> Visited here myself over the weekend, travellers have moved on and I believe the final resident has sold up too. I couldn't get over the size of the place! This is a great report I'll get a few of my own pics up in the next few days



Thanks very much! I did a updated version of this estate a few weeks back - [ame="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=21642"]INTERNAL LINK[/ame]


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## sparky.

This report looks amazing very nicely done thanks for sharing


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## UEP-Wales

sparky. said:


> This report looks amazing very nicely done thanks for sharing



Thanks very much! Forgot about this thread to be honest  I did another visit (well lots of them) and made a up-to-date thread Internal Link Thingy


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## begbi

top stuff man


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## the kwan

fantastic, kinda eerie though, notice this is an old thread so I wonder if it is still standing.


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## UEP-Wales

the kwan said:


> fantastic, kinda eerie though, notice this is an old thread so I wonder if it is still standing.



Thanks very much!

I have got a couple of more recent threads up here:

[ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=21642[/ame] [ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=22384[/ame]

These pics were taken very recently and show the current changes:


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