D
Dragon_Urbex
Guest
Guest
Well well well… Ever since seeing photos of Fawley Power Station's interior back in 2014, I have been desperate to explore it. I finally did, with my good friends @Landie_Man and Robin – not a neo-Batman duet, I hasten to add! In all honesty, we were not expecting to find access into the control room, so it was more of a last ditch attempt. Demolition of the main power station was properly along, with only the control block, transformer bays and chimney still standing as of that time – the rest had been demolished which is a crying shame, with the chimney being the latest victim. But hey ho… nothing one can do when a multi-billion property development consortium decides to build houses.
Brief History:
A power station was first proposed near the Fawley Oil Refinery in the early 1960s by the CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board). A site near to the refinery was chosen due to the ease of pumping fuel oil via a pipeline to the power station directly. A site just north of Calshot was chosen and ground was broken in 1965, with the main engineering works done by Mitchell Construction. The building was designed by Colin Morse RIBA, of the architecture firm Farmer and Dark, and the first unit was commissioned in 1969. Fawley was fully opened on the 6th of May 1971 when it was fully commissioned. The power station had four boilers that fired heavy fuel oil, and four turbines that in total produced 2,000MW of electricity. Fawley had the distinction of being the most efficient power station in the UK for a few years running, until it was surpassed by others. However thanks to the sudden increase in the price of oil, Fawley was not constantly used. But, during the 1984-1985 miners' strike, Fawley witnessed a large peak in production of electricity as coal stocks at coal fired power stations dwindled. Between 1971 and 1990, Fawley was owned by the Central Electricity Generating Board, but upon privatisation of the electricity industry, it passed to Powergen which then became RWE nPower. In 2013, Fawley was decommissioned as it did not comply with the EU's Large Combustion Plant Directive. The control room was used by RWE until 2016 to remotely monitor and control East Cowes Power Station on the Isle of Wight. In 2017, Fawley was purchased by a consortium of developers headed by local rich man Aldred Drummond. The consortium, named Fawley Waterside, launched a plan to build a £1.5 billion housing development of 1,500 houses, and demolish the power station. The first explosive event occurred in October 2019 which saw the turbine hall and unique glass de-aerator building destroyed, with the second in November 2020 comprising of half of the boiler house, third in July 2021 which saw the rest of the boiler house destroyed, and finally in October 2021 which saw the chimney and last part of the turbine hall
The photographs are posted below for your enjoyment!
1) The control building is a unique spaceship shaped building. It comprises of the control room and server rooms at the top, then conference rooms on the 1st floor, with library, labs, offices and canteen on the ground floor.
2) The main stairs.
3) The 1st floor landing. There's a comfy sofa there!
4) The view down to the pot of gold!
5) Stating the obvious, but even so...!
6) The two remaining control desks. The other two were removed in the 1990s after two units were mothballed.
7) Control desk of unit 3.
8) Control desk in the middle, with a nice wrought iron spiral staircase protruding out of the floor.
9) Looking at many buttons and dials.
10) All these switches make for good photos!
11) Buttons for dampers.
12) Dials and buttons and switches.
13) The manual gas turbine controls. Each desk had a manual control which was separate to the main gas turbine control cabinet.
14) Self explanatory - I did press this. Nothing happened!
15) I also pressed the Turbine Trip button. Just had to be done.
16) I believe this was to control steam drums in boilers.
17) I believe this was to control the seawater intake for cooling. I could well be wrong.
18) A dial showing the output of one of the units.
19) The control desk of Unit 1.
20) Dials!
21) Dials galore again.
22) The main gas turbine control cabinets. @Landie_Man actually squeezed himself into this when secca came sniffing!
23) The dials on the gas turbine controls. Note that each one would have outputted around 15-20MW. Enough to keep the plant ticking over in case of power outtages, and also to top up the grid in times of peak demand.
24) Each gas turbine had a really big red button to trip it in emergencies.
25) As I am Welsh, this had to be done!
26) One of the server rooms. This was chock full of all sorts of things.
27) Looking at one of the servers.
28) A really really old retro computer. This was quite an extraordinary find.
Thanks for readin'!
Brief History:
A power station was first proposed near the Fawley Oil Refinery in the early 1960s by the CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board). A site near to the refinery was chosen due to the ease of pumping fuel oil via a pipeline to the power station directly. A site just north of Calshot was chosen and ground was broken in 1965, with the main engineering works done by Mitchell Construction. The building was designed by Colin Morse RIBA, of the architecture firm Farmer and Dark, and the first unit was commissioned in 1969. Fawley was fully opened on the 6th of May 1971 when it was fully commissioned. The power station had four boilers that fired heavy fuel oil, and four turbines that in total produced 2,000MW of electricity. Fawley had the distinction of being the most efficient power station in the UK for a few years running, until it was surpassed by others. However thanks to the sudden increase in the price of oil, Fawley was not constantly used. But, during the 1984-1985 miners' strike, Fawley witnessed a large peak in production of electricity as coal stocks at coal fired power stations dwindled. Between 1971 and 1990, Fawley was owned by the Central Electricity Generating Board, but upon privatisation of the electricity industry, it passed to Powergen which then became RWE nPower. In 2013, Fawley was decommissioned as it did not comply with the EU's Large Combustion Plant Directive. The control room was used by RWE until 2016 to remotely monitor and control East Cowes Power Station on the Isle of Wight. In 2017, Fawley was purchased by a consortium of developers headed by local rich man Aldred Drummond. The consortium, named Fawley Waterside, launched a plan to build a £1.5 billion housing development of 1,500 houses, and demolish the power station. The first explosive event occurred in October 2019 which saw the turbine hall and unique glass de-aerator building destroyed, with the second in November 2020 comprising of half of the boiler house, third in July 2021 which saw the rest of the boiler house destroyed, and finally in October 2021 which saw the chimney and last part of the turbine hall
The photographs are posted below for your enjoyment!
1) The control building is a unique spaceship shaped building. It comprises of the control room and server rooms at the top, then conference rooms on the 1st floor, with library, labs, offices and canteen on the ground floor.
2) The main stairs.
3) The 1st floor landing. There's a comfy sofa there!
4) The view down to the pot of gold!
5) Stating the obvious, but even so...!
6) The two remaining control desks. The other two were removed in the 1990s after two units were mothballed.
7) Control desk of unit 3.
8) Control desk in the middle, with a nice wrought iron spiral staircase protruding out of the floor.
9) Looking at many buttons and dials.
10) All these switches make for good photos!
11) Buttons for dampers.
12) Dials and buttons and switches.
13) The manual gas turbine controls. Each desk had a manual control which was separate to the main gas turbine control cabinet.
14) Self explanatory - I did press this. Nothing happened!
15) I also pressed the Turbine Trip button. Just had to be done.
16) I believe this was to control steam drums in boilers.
17) I believe this was to control the seawater intake for cooling. I could well be wrong.
18) A dial showing the output of one of the units.
19) The control desk of Unit 1.
20) Dials!
21) Dials galore again.
22) The main gas turbine control cabinets. @Landie_Man actually squeezed himself into this when secca came sniffing!
23) The dials on the gas turbine controls. Note that each one would have outputted around 15-20MW. Enough to keep the plant ticking over in case of power outtages, and also to top up the grid in times of peak demand.
24) Each gas turbine had a really big red button to trip it in emergencies.
25) As I am Welsh, this had to be done!
26) One of the server rooms. This was chock full of all sorts of things.
27) Looking at one of the servers.
28) A really really old retro computer. This was quite an extraordinary find.
Thanks for readin'!
