Chorley and South Ribble Hospital Maternity Unit
This is no where near the most exciting report but deserves to be documented nonetheless. Visited with @UrbandonedTeam.
This maternity unit shut temporarily in late February 2019 after workers found asbestos inside "non-public area" of the building. It posed no threat to any patients confirmed by the daily air quality checks resulting in no fibres to be found in the atmosphere. The area where the asbestos was found was sealed off before the fire service advised that the lift shouldn't be used and the site workers couldn't maintain the fire alarm system on the third floor. As a result of these somewhat unfortunate events, the decision for a new unit to be built elsewhere on site came to fruition. Since then demolition has began and little remains inside.
Here is what one of the birthing rooms would have looked like during the buildings use. It is said that "Chorley Birth Centre offers three, recently updated, en-suite birthing rooms, two of which have birthing pools. A sitting room and family room provide additional facilities for new mothers and their birth partners."
The Explore:
I had known about this being left disused for close to a year now so when we entered the site recently it was a kick in the teeth to find it well and truly stripped.
A classic spontaneous night time plan came about to check numerous leads around our local area with. After failing multiple other spots and the night progressing a thought popped into our heads to finally check the maternity unit. Since my previous recce diggers and other machinery had made it onto the site and into the lower floor of the building which instantly added more regret about not checking it earlier. It was easy enough to get inside due to the demo work.
The ground floor greeted us with numerous piles of rubble and diggers. Sadly nothing of interest sat down here.
We searched for the staircase to take us up and hopefully find some interesting remains of the unit. For some reason a sorry looking plant remained along with paintings on each surface going up the staircase. Pure darkness in areas made it difficult to shoot at a clean ISO. We couldn't risk light painting due to work vans and ambulances driving round the building every 10 minutes or so.
On the second floor you could find some classic modern hospital signage that directed you towards the wards and main entrance of the live hospital. Of course this door was locked off and made for an interesting time peeping in watching workers navigate the long walkways as we took shots.
We then journeyed through the corridors on this floor to find the only things "left behind".
Off of the one of the ward corridors we found a number of the bedside lamps fixed in place where roughly 6 beds could fit.
The light from outside made for nice lighting overall.
This floor also gave us a good vantage point to see the extent of the demo work. The courtyard had seemed to have become a temporary skip for the parts removed from the building.
Finally we made our way up to the third floor. This was the floor that was deemed out of bounds after the fire alarm system could no longer be managed. Rooms for ultrasounds to be carried out were up here and the signs above the lift indicated what other purposes the building has. Also on site was an Antenatal unit, Gynaecology clinic, Colposcopy clinic.
Similarly to the ground floor, there was nothing else to be found up here.
Not the most exciting of locations but made for a fun hour or so poking around. I hope you enjoyed the read!
This is no where near the most exciting report but deserves to be documented nonetheless. Visited with @UrbandonedTeam.
This maternity unit shut temporarily in late February 2019 after workers found asbestos inside "non-public area" of the building. It posed no threat to any patients confirmed by the daily air quality checks resulting in no fibres to be found in the atmosphere. The area where the asbestos was found was sealed off before the fire service advised that the lift shouldn't be used and the site workers couldn't maintain the fire alarm system on the third floor. As a result of these somewhat unfortunate events, the decision for a new unit to be built elsewhere on site came to fruition. Since then demolition has began and little remains inside.
Here is what one of the birthing rooms would have looked like during the buildings use. It is said that "Chorley Birth Centre offers three, recently updated, en-suite birthing rooms, two of which have birthing pools. A sitting room and family room provide additional facilities for new mothers and their birth partners."
The Explore:
I had known about this being left disused for close to a year now so when we entered the site recently it was a kick in the teeth to find it well and truly stripped.
A classic spontaneous night time plan came about to check numerous leads around our local area with. After failing multiple other spots and the night progressing a thought popped into our heads to finally check the maternity unit. Since my previous recce diggers and other machinery had made it onto the site and into the lower floor of the building which instantly added more regret about not checking it earlier. It was easy enough to get inside due to the demo work.
The ground floor greeted us with numerous piles of rubble and diggers. Sadly nothing of interest sat down here.
We searched for the staircase to take us up and hopefully find some interesting remains of the unit. For some reason a sorry looking plant remained along with paintings on each surface going up the staircase. Pure darkness in areas made it difficult to shoot at a clean ISO. We couldn't risk light painting due to work vans and ambulances driving round the building every 10 minutes or so.
On the second floor you could find some classic modern hospital signage that directed you towards the wards and main entrance of the live hospital. Of course this door was locked off and made for an interesting time peeping in watching workers navigate the long walkways as we took shots.
We then journeyed through the corridors on this floor to find the only things "left behind".
Off of the one of the ward corridors we found a number of the bedside lamps fixed in place where roughly 6 beds could fit.
The light from outside made for nice lighting overall.
This floor also gave us a good vantage point to see the extent of the demo work. The courtyard had seemed to have become a temporary skip for the parts removed from the building.
Finally we made our way up to the third floor. This was the floor that was deemed out of bounds after the fire alarm system could no longer be managed. Rooms for ultrasounds to be carried out were up here and the signs above the lift indicated what other purposes the building has. Also on site was an Antenatal unit, Gynaecology clinic, Colposcopy clinic.
Similarly to the ground floor, there was nothing else to be found up here.
Not the most exciting of locations but made for a fun hour or so poking around. I hope you enjoyed the read!
