Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals - March '11 (Pic Heavy!)

[mookster]

First of all, and it is vital for you to note, this was a legit trip. The only way this was possible was the legit route. Massive massive thanks to the guys at Eli who made this happen. There is no hope of this being done non-legit, and it's highly unlikely to ever be done again the legit way. The place is alarmed, has 24/7 security on site and many many cameras which are constantly monitored, it's pretty much secured as if it was still a live site.

Second of all thanks to the other members who were able to come along - Treadstone, randomnut, Phantom Bish, Gh0st, TranKmasT and Andrew, great company for a great evening explore.

What can I say, one of the biggest explores I've done, 5 hours straight photographing and came away with many many pics. This place, although stripped, still has much to keep you occupied from service tunnels to a snooker table via lots of labs, big empty spaces, offices and some rather entertaining posters!

History:

Eli Lilly's 1939 Art Deco building was originally topped with bright neon signage the building got painted in green and brown camouflage to stop German bombers using it as a route marker during the war.
The building is believed to be tornado proof, the design being copied from Lilly's Kansas factory

Lilly bought quite a lot of land – approx 23 acres of farmland between Kingsclere Road and the railway – on what was then the outskirts of the town.

Construction began in February 1938, with the removal of 10,000 cubic yards of chalk from what was to become the basement of the factory building, followed soon after by the burrowing of a tunnel to carry steam and service pipes from the boiler house by the railway siding up to the main building.

The winter of 1938 saw the traditional topping out ceremony, the building little more than a shell, the windows of the upper storey – their iron fitments not yet having arrived – still gaping holes. The big six floor building, a brilliant sugar loaf white, stood on its own. No other landmark contested the ground between it and the water tower of the Park Prewett Mental Hospital.

By March 1939 thirteen months after the earth movers had begun their work, A Block, as the original building is now called, was ready for occupation. That same month a caravan of pantechnicons turned up at Kingsclere Road filled with the company’s stock and effects. Soon afterwards testing of the manufacturing machinery began and by the beginning of September the site was ready for business.

By that time however all eyes including those of the Company’s new employees was turned to Poland and the German invasion which had begun on the first of September. World events were moving rapidly and Great Britain declared war on Germany at 11.00 am on Sunday 3rd September, the day before the new Lilly factory opened for business. Before long the brilliant white building had been covered in camouflage paint, the newly erected neon sign had been switched off, an anti-aircraft gun stationed on site and half of the accommodation requisitioned by the Ministry of Aircraft Production.

The Company had precious little time to reap any reward from its considerable investment in Basingstoke before war intervened, but at least the new factory had been built and partially equipped, and was ready to make a significant contribution firstly to the war effort and later to the supply of pharmaceutical needs to an exhausted post-war Britain.

Lets crack on with some pics then....starting with the building we visited last, 'A Block', the big art-deco factory building.

















































More pics from A Block here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157626143886627/

Cont'd in next post

 

[mookster]

Part 2 - the rest.

These are all in the order we saw everything, no other order than that.























































Thanks for looking, more pics from 'the rest' here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157626143713443/

Oh and remember, don't try and do this without permission you will only embarrass yourself.

 

[chelle]

eli lilly

My mum & auntie used to work here....i remember goin round the place one day on an open day.......another part of my home that will soon disappear

 

[Nobby1974]

mookster, great work, thanks for sharing. I love these deco places but have never seen one so clean as this - I did the Marconi place last year and it was chavbombed to death (

Cool stairwells too - even the first stair pic (which I assume is a service or emergency stairwell) has an overly elaborate handrail

 

[mookster]

Cheers guys.

It is sealed tighter than pretty much anything I've seen.

Every building is alarmed, there are PIRs everywhere inside and out and loads of cameras. To respect the wishes of those at Lilly who gave us this opportunity anybody reading this report needs to be aware of that, to respect their wishes and not to try any funny business here. The guys who gave up an evening to show us around admire the work we do as an internet community but also have a duty of care to the community in Basingstoke as many locals used to work here, the safety and security of the site is important to everybody. We could instantly see as soon as we got there there is no way it'd be doable any other way, they had to turn off all the zone alarms and PIRs and stuff before we were allowed in.

They love these forums as much as we do, so we should give their site and wishes the same respect.

 

[Em_Ux]

Enjoyed looking through your shots.

Thanks for sharing

 

[dobbo79]

wow...

amazing pics and i agree...big respect to the people who gave up their time to let you in and look around...
and you have done te place justice..

Thankyou to all involved and well done....

 

[night crawler]

Impressive well done.

 

[Andymacg]

nice work there , love the stair shot

and well done to those who made it possible for you to get those fantastic pics

 

[King Al]

Bloody cool looking place that Mook, absolutely mint! great report