DERELICT OFFICE building explore. Built 1972, abandoned in 1991 (horrific toilets!)

[@fiskurtjorn]

The toilets didn't shock me. Being alive, more or less, during the 1970s, I knew what the color scheme would be. What shocked me the building was derelict for 33 years and only in use for 16

[@andreasu.3546]

Sounds like great management. Wonder what's the story behind it.

[@oliverstemp9132]

Bit of a timewarp

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

Sadly it's not uncommon for buildings of that era to be gone very quick. Some of the 1960s tower blocks were already being blown up as soon as 2000-2001. That's barely 30 years and is a total bloody waste.

[@shable1436]

More or less alive? 😂 Was you married or something 😂

[@fiskurtjorn]

@@shable1436 I was not married. For part of that decade, I was not alive; for part, I was too young to realise I was alive, and for part, I still have fond memories of enjoying life.

[@TechOne7671]

Quality. I do electrical maintenance in a lot of buildings of that era, the styles and colour schemes are of the same. Some still even original. I love the older buildings, so much more style and design than the current all white vast spaces of nothing. All the best to you.

[@adamharris5355]

Nice to see the various fire alarm panels, as an ex-Gent fire alarm engineer I spotted the Vigilon panel at 10:00

[@sparkidee]

Wow really interesting explore! Where is this? Can't believe it was last used in 1991. This video reminds me of a company I worked for from 2019 till 2023. The office blocks were made in 2000 and we had Otis lifts! They were good and lasted a long time although towards the end we did have to get the engineers out more often. I worked in the post room for this insurance company in the last 2 years and before that I worked in the offices so knew everything in the building I was also responsible for maintenance too. It was a great location looking over the whole of Whitstable on top of Borstal Hill. The owner is a millionaire and bought it in a game of poker that how dodgy it was! Then he decided to turn it into flats and made us all redundant. I've since been back to see what it's like and it's all tiny rabbit hutch flats it looks awful! Once stood a fantastic office block! Early 2000s decor and an interesting building (I was in the engine room bit too adjusting the air con systems and also up in the roof walking above people's desks. I miss that work place tbh! Sorry for the long story, your video reminded me of my experience. I took pics of the last day in my building they are still on my phone I also have videos.

[@RODALCO2007]

Thank you for an interesting urbex explore. Yes, I have seen those toilet colour schemes in The Netherlands too when I lived there in the 1970's. Colours like orange and even purple toilets.

[@Travis_22]

Those colours are cool! Philistine

[@lewispommells234]

Surprised at the condition of the building prior to it being renovated. It looked pretty good. If it opened in 1975 like you said it only saw 15 years of use.

[@chanchito4401]

I had to think about this a lot... how is it only 15 years between 1975 and 1990? Consider that 15 years ago now was 2010...

[@GregBouchard-w3i]

U do a rally good job on here keep up

[@gymbuddy32]

Being a child of the 70s, I must say the toilet colour scheme would have been on trend for the era. When we moved into our new house in 1975 my parents had the white bathroom suite ripped out and replaced it with a brown one. Brown was the in colour in the 70's

[@gman83090]

Whoever is the developer of this development is a very smart person instead of completely demolishing the building they're actually repurposing it into apartments instead of office space it's better for the environment

[@paulhunter123]

these are the least horrific toilets ive ever seen. if anything im shocked by how clean they are!

[@transportromania]

At 1:10 there is a "Please, close the door" message. As this is in Romanian, it is highly possible some of the Romanian workers forgot to to close the door. That's probably why the worker was only saying "hello", his English language skill wasn't good enough to ask you who you are and what are you doing there.

[@leblueawoo]

That, or he doesn't get paid enough to care.

[@caroleast9636]

Looking forward to seeing the next part. Those lifts look to be in remarkable condition after being abandoned for over 30 years. It wouldn’t take a lot of work to refurb back into going order. Probably though, a lot would be stripped and, at the very least, the control system and the car would be replaced. These are classic Otis systems for the period. I’ve installed countless numbers of these, but how many engineers are left now that even understand how to maintain these systems?

[@SL33PY_z]

That building is in my hometown. I remember playing tag in the car park below. If I knew it was derelict I would have definitely explored!

[@keith800]

Brilliant video it is most interesting to see it being converted into apartments but one wonders about sound proofing and the longevity of the conversions apart from the expense of communal maintenance these developments consume.

[@lapub.]

In CE country sound proofing is a mandatory thing but since brexit they may have found that sound proofing add no benefit to the landlord so may have remove it from the mandatory list

[@23Daves]

Those toilets are an absolute marvel! Imagine the luxury of choosing the colour scheme you want before you do what nature intended. I've never been afforded that luxury before. I had one job where we were the final occupants in a very run-down sixties building, and the toilets in that could only be described a brown and creme nightmare - the urinals were like cow's troughs. These are a lot better than that.

[@suchcone]

Quality not quantity 🙌 I'm fascinated with 1970s buildings, my old apartment was a converted 70s building and they had an incinerator which appeared to have an inlet on every floor. Only found this by climbing inside a riser via two locked toors (which I managed to find the master key to!). The lift shafts had torn labels saying "automatic elevator" !

[@lapub.]

Garbage disposal is the best thing to have if you love cockroaches, people throw food in with no bag covering the inside of a tasty layer and the bugs spread all over the place, I can tell you that's a good thing it was closed !

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Like you, I love old mechanical machinery. Engineers pushing the limits of what lifts can do, using mechanical devices to run the logic instead of computers! That incinerator sounds interesting!

[@mrmattandmrchay]

@@lapub. yuck!

[@dutchwolf2675]

I don’t have much information about the intruder panels but I do have some information about the fire panels. The original panels seem to be some chloride gent conventional panels. There are 2 modern-ish panels installed. Gent xenex is a conventional panel which came out around the 90s and has LEDs telling you the location of a fire. There is a new-ish panel which must have been installed during when it was abandoned. It is on the far right and it is a gent vigilon compact addressable panel. It came around the 2000s and it has an LCD telling you exactly what has gone in fire

[@steve5772]

"Door was left open".... yeah right lads, i bet you can open a pushbutton code lock faster than i can 😂

[@lapub.]

It's more common than you think to find an open door or at least a door that was not correctly close

[@imkirbo3094]

@@lapub. They are increcibly easy to open tho, most just need a magnet on the side and they'll open.

[@RikAindow]

Sad but true: when the government started shuttering a load of DVLA, DWP, and other government office buildings, they got rid of minimum space standards for buildings converted from office use as a way of making them attractive to property investors. Some converted properties are said to have smaller flats than a hotel room. We really are being forced into an ever shrinking space.

[@hannahtaylor3841]

I'm lucky that my converted office flat is not like these tiny postage size places!

[@GothGuy885]

outside of the brown toilet, I didn't find the colors that atrocious. I was a teen in the 1970's, and remember some actual horrible color combos. orange and green for one 🤢I still like earth tones, which I think this building was done in. thanks for another fascinating video, I am going to watch part 2 for sure 😀

[@jakemcintyre4820]

I'm more amazed how the building was only used for 20 odd years. Whats the story behind it? My grandad used to work for the council and he has told me of buildings closing due to poor air quality and lack of fire escape routes. I wonder if its a similar thing here. I remember him telling me about one office block where people were constantly complaining of headaches for years, generally not feeling well and being poorly. It got so bad some of the workers would go home sick half way through the day but then start to feel a lot better as soon as they were out the building and in the fresh air, so they were adament it was something to do with the office block. The powers that be finally had had enough complaints over the years and eventually one of the walls was ripped open to reveal black mould inside. Apparantly the whole building was like that due to poor ventilation and lack of air conditioning. The block was evacuated soon after and demolished in the end.

[@Saammmoore]

Hi guys just a quick one, I always remember you when you visited billingham for the lifts in the town centre, just a heads up that end of the town is pretty much vacant now and demolition is planned for the new year if your wanting to see the lifts again

[@stephencleaves]

Great video, the Group 4 alarm panels were (from memory) model CU 21 and operated on a 3 wire principle, its been decades since I worked on those !

[@traceyjane4288]

cool building

[@DanielMeakin1]

Absolutely fantastic video Mr Matt I really enjoyed seeing other photos and history about one of my local 1970s buildings. Also really happy to help with sending my photo in which I took in the car park. Also Matt could you mention in the decription of under my video that thats my transport channel.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Hi Daniel, glad you enjoyed it! I still have part 2 to finish so I could include them in part 2? I think I have the photos already (Joe sent them) but the file sizes were tiny (pixelate very easily). I believe Joe downloaded them through messenger - message and whatsapp always compress the photos, which means they're very low quality if you download them from here. Would you be able to email them to me, with the images as an attachment? Or possibly wetransfer? [e-mail]

[@DanielMeakin1]

@mrmattandmrchay just emailed you.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

@@DanielMeakin1 cool, got it thanks! Will respond later as I'm at work atm! :)

[@TheStupidSitshow-n7b]

I hope the toilets & urinals get saved & put into a museum

[@marcd6897]

It’s beyond me how such a structure and the capital involved can lay dormant and unused for 30+ years… Yeah, maybe it can be written off but still…

[@danielvanr.8681]

Lay what? Eggs? It's a building, not a hen. _*lie_ dormant and unused

[@ManuelleCabreros]

hey bro, i've watched your old videos and brings back old memories i love Broadmoor/Secomak/Klaxon cs8's Before, and hey! from 2020, the cs8 are almost gone! but G siren are still active tho..

[@tomcat2395]

A new era of high cost slum housing begins with these kind of conversions.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

yeah, bet these 'new builds' really will be high cost. I bet they'll appeal to someone though.

[@tomcat2395]

@@mrmattandmrchay The Landlord and local councils. This will be social housing

[@joparish1037]

Better use of these abandoned buildings than building all over the countryside.

[@Disco-stu1982]

Free flats for the invaders

[@hannahtaylor3841]

I live in a converted office building which used to be the headquarters for a certain water firm. It had been left empty for a couple of years. Right next to the airport I work at. The rent is not high, still the same price now after 2 years and I was one of the first tenants to move in, the quality is superb and the landlords are great. I think we are all private renters so can't say of there is anyone on social or council?.. I feel lucky if these other conversions are classed as slums.

[@firealarmtechguy4444]

It's interesting how they do things different in the UK. Over here in the US, Recently in Las Vegas NV. They demolished the Tropicana hotel. They did remove the lift/elevator cars but all the debris to prepare for implosion, they just cut a gash in the side of both hotel towers so bobcats could be lifted into the building. The bobcats then pushed all the furniture and interior walls out the front of the buildings instead of down the elevator/lift shafts

[@RCelevators]

Those Otises look great for being derelict for 30 years!

[@Mouse2113]

Love the toilets

[@hmsirensandfirealarms]

Nice to watch some MrMattAndMrChay again! This video is awesome making me want to go urbexing again lol

[@Richard-pe4cx]

there are loads of vacant offices glad some are being converted to flats

[@MrAustinPowers]

Remember that building well as we visited my Grandparents in Oxfordshire we always drove through Aylesbury from Harlow. Ever since the 80’s. Surprised anyone can afford to keep it empty for so long

[@abpsd73]

I'm currently doing a commercial reno "across the pond" of a building that was last remodeled in the early 70s. The wallpaper, carpets, and fixtures are from the ghastly late 60s/early 70s color palette. I would be surprised if this building is now complete. The plumbing and electrical, and HVAC modifications to convert an office building to apartments is extensive.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

I believe they also had drainage issues - if you can imagine where the toilets were, the pipes went directly downwards into the sewer. When you have XX apartments dotted all around the floor, must be a challenge to get all the waste into the same sewer.

[@42luke93]

We went from having so much space making office buildings to now people being forced to live in appartments since not affordable.

[@hannahtaylor3841]

I have lived in a converted office block in the midlands for nearly 3 years now. Good size, very good value for private rent and good soundproofing and ventilation. I'm seeing a lot of negative comments however. I think theres around 40 or so apartments in the building. My curiosity is why are they considered bad? I've never seen negativity about them before. Someone please enlighten. Awesome video by the way, what companies occupied the office space?

[@GeorgeMathieson]

9:52 Of course the Gent Vigilon has the fault light on 😅

[@The_Light_Project]

Another great, and mysterious video! I wasn't surprised with the toilets as well! In my grandparent's home at the village, we had a full green bathroom, with all (sink, bathtub, tiles, and... toilet!). It was built in the 70s as well. Nice finale with the suspense of detection! I bet that worker was also surpised/scared by the noise as well, hence this kind of response!

[@MunyatiAbuAbidah]

Boys and girls, mrmattandmrchay uploaded

[@YourLocalGP]

Watching with maximum excitement at 30,000ft over the Atlantic!

[@andyarchitect]

These lifts are near identical to the ones that were in my university building before they got replaced. Having used them so frequently they give me a lot of nostalgia. They were awesome lifts to use... so much quicker than modern ones.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

And probably quite a bit more abrupt that the modern ones?

[@andyarchitect]

@mrmattandmrchay I remember the door operation being the fastest part. They seemed to finish closing just as the lift started moving, and likewise started opening a split second before the lift actualy stopped. And if you got in the lift and didn't want to wait for them to start closing the was a door close button in addition to the hold door open one. They did seem to accelerate and decelerate a bit faster than modern ones too. Another notable quirk was that one of them had had the key operated switch for the cabin light replaced with a regular switch so sometimes people would switch off the light when they got out as a trick for the next person who got in. I remember I rode it in the dark once before I figured it out 😄

[@josephsager9425]

Does the UK still use does with a circular window? That's abnormal in the states, but I remember those doors in the early 90's British TV show, Absolutely Fabulous.

[@Maxsdiscos]

Did the boiler room at the top serve the shop? Will the shop still be open after they have made it into apartments?

[@michaelturner4457]

The brown toilet was particularly ghastly, an the piss yellow urinals are awesome, could save on cleaning I suppose. We used to have a bathroom suite in avocado, the house was built in 1973.

[@simonsanigar3581]

Video nicely put together

[@Nippon-Gakki-furry-kuzco]

Cool

[@tobyjackman3212]

Epic video, lads

[@djadventure]

Oh, yeah. Its going to be a good evening.

[@sidewaysshoguns443]

Was supposed to use this building for my final interior design project. But unfortunately the floor plans provided to me were just images and not very good ones. It will be turned into new apartments last time I checked the council website.

[@wesh420]

yoooo finally a adventurous videooo

[@AintBigAintClever]

Is there a particular purpose for the metal mesh plates on the wall top and bottom of the lift shaft?

[@oliverstemp9132]

I know where this building is, never knew it was actually abandoned though, but there's so many disused offices here.

[@Juliukas101]

Where is it?

[@lapub.]

Full colour bathroom what a thing of the era, I saw them in pink, dark green, light green, dark blue too, now you have a vast choice of white or white ! same goes to the wall , white or white

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Yeah, I remember as a kid, our house had a dark green bath and toilet, AND this was installed when the bathroom was moved (i.e. faily new). Was considered normal back then!

[@PeterShaw-lb9lt]

Will they use the elevator shafts in the new build and refurbish them

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Yep, all elevator shafts will be used. I'm guessing the motor rooms on the roof will be stripped out, and MRL lift installed instead - so everything is in the lift shaft and controller on top floor (not the roof).

[@CWM030]

17:53 what is that "EXTINGUISHANT"?

[@CWM030]

Damn was the dude DEAF? He kept saying HELLO? HELLO? HELLO? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@samuellourenco1050]

Office spaces converted to apartments. What could go wrong?

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

They did that near me and it's just crap. Fake interior walls erected where they didn't exist and even have interior windows, the exterior windows are only down one side, no balcony or private outdoor space, etc. The main perk is an underground car park. If it wasn't too expensive to just level the whole lot and rebuild with proper flats on the site instead.

[@Techno-Universal]

Bathrooms like that don’t really exist anymore because of how they are often rebuilt every 15-20 years because of wear and tear on top of a desire to keep the bathrooms modern.

[@jamesm90]

Im sure a building from that era would have had asbestos everywhere originally.

[@rich_in_paradise]

Flats converted from offices are generally pretty bad. I know it seems like the right thing to do - repurpose unwanted office buildings rather than demolish them or leave them derelict, but I'd strongly recommend against buying a coversion like this.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

The new corridor design looks very thin, and wonder how much sound proofing there is between two apartments separated by plasterboard!?

[@eyesodd]

I imagine the planning laws being dropped to allow office conversion to residential, is to house our new overseas visitors.

[@nkt1]

@@mrmattandmrchayI would assume each dwelling would have to be properly compartmentalised, with some form of masonry partition.

[@ukmoshinist4595]

I suspect the only mugs who will actually pay for these flats. Will be us, the taxpayers!!🤔 Although, if they were originally government offices,…We will have paid for them twice😅😅

[@Sheet-Stores-Erewash]

Gotta put the residents of the uk somewhere after all the new builds are given to migrants

[@richardhaywood4123]

Will there be new lifts installed in the shafts eventually?

[@LiftManAmer]

100%. No way they would repair these awesome Otis lifts.

[@kingsethofpinecone]

You're right

[@LiftManAmer]

@kingsethofpinecone Yeah

[@markm-ci6rj]

Anyone know what offices were there, shops too?

[@kingsethofpinecone]

Nope

[@michaelfuggle3685]

Originally it was Xerox then Target Life, before the store was QD it was a co op I think.

[@me_fault]

Hampden House Aylesbury

[@M3G4UK]

Great video! Crazy that the building was empty for so long. What was the song you used during the photo slideshow?

[@martindavis6115]

Thanks for another really interesting video. Out of curiosity would you say that those older style Otis lifts were more unreliable and more prone to breaking down?

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Thanks for your comment. In my personal opinion, older lift are possibly not as reliable as modern day lifts for day-to-day running (depends on the complexity i guess), but older lifts were designed to last MUCH longer. As long as they're maintained well, then they'll last forever. But the issue is, older lift require engineers that know how they work and how to fault find and repair them - as engineers retire, the knowledge goes with them and nobody these days will be trained on old lift technology.

[@martindavis6115]

@mrmattandmrchay Thanks for taking the time to respond and explain. It makes a lot of sense.

[@JeanLaffite-ec9em]

So many decades of life wasted here, people thinking they are doing the right thing ‘working’ - toiling for a lifetime - does all the money you earned make up for all the time you gave? What a waste! It’s only at the end you’ll realise the regret.

[@Wiltshire-observer]

These buildings are probably where Angela Rayner can claim she has ‘built’ 1.5M homes in a year. I doubt many will want to buy one.

[@StrawberrySunday212]

@5:45. Erm I hope you weren't throwing expensive builders equipment or microwaves down that shaft ,Mr Matt, whilst neurotically screaming "The lift is hungry" 🥴🤣

[@christopher-2000]

awesome Lift Video i film a Old 1960's or1970's otis lift and i have video on me channel

[@Tigrou7777]

I came for the toilets, stayed for the elevators.

[@almilhouse9059]

Honestly believe this will just be another place to put the boating people, it's happening all over Ireland, they're putting them up in any vacant buildings

[@jamiesworld1690]

How di u acces to it

[@jordanbooth3748]

Spooky

[@uzaiyaro]

A building not even lasting 20 years is such a huge waste. I wonder what happened.

[@cliftonwills8403]

I had a urinal like that it sold for $600

[@LGCT]

Epic Video. Those Old Otis Lifts Look Very Epic to Ride if they were Working. I Really hope they don't Modernize the set of 2 Lifts.

[@kingsethofpinecone]

They problaby will midernise it sadly becase that has happned many times with places like that

[@lapub.]

@kingsethofpinecone You lose the "hard" start and stop that make me fun by slightly shaking my gut, I miss these old think as all the new one with inverter are so smooth that give you no feeling

[@zidane2k1]

19 years of operation seems like such a short time for a large office building like this. Re: Toilets, I guess brown toilets and yellow urinals would hide the poop and pee stains better...

[@perrymckinney6146]

If its being remodeled into apartments for welfare, this building will be trashed in no time.

[@JamesWheeler-c3o]

I just don't understand why the building was only in use for 16 years

[@CWM030]

BLOODY HELL as ya'll say in the UK......Poop Brown toilets!

[@nikf3188]

Aylesbury still looks pants!

[@maccagrabme]

Not quite as bad as Slough but I get the impression Aylesbury might have looked better decades ago.

[@WasherkiddoYT]

Try Spain Barcelona Thay have about infinite old lifts

[@brunoais]

10:44: Abnormal but, for me, tolerable. I guess I'm mess affected than most people

[@Juan_jose_estrada_bahena]

Yooooo

[@AkinwaleArobiekePurpleAki]

Shame it didn’t get restored as it was more lost history

[@JohnHaigh09]

This is why this building was untouched because it has high levels of asbestos you and your buddies spent hours breathing in.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

We were in there for an hour and touched nothing. There's been 10-20 workers in there all day long taking the place apart for the last 3-6 months with no masks. I think if there was asbestos then it'd have been removed before the workers started.

[@etonmows7901]

The insulation all looked like fiberglass to me

[@JohnHaigh09]

@@etonmows7901 him and his buddies can enjoy the Mesothelioma in a few years

[@sherpafan033]

@@JohnHaigh09bore off mate

[@TinaLouise73]

to think of the mass homeless population u wudda thought this building wuddof been refurbished into social housing flats! but no doubt bureaucracy red tape bs is preventing it! such a waste of a potential building and homes for those on the streets 😐

[@BossySwan]

What a waste. Could accommodate new/temporary homes for those in need.

[@jordanbooth3748]

Some people will say it looks nice 😂

[@andyroofthooft962]

Toilets are Nice😂

[@mrmattandmrchay]

yes, colours are 'urine yellow' and 'turd green'!

[@DavidG-g6u]

Horrific toilets ... 🤣😜😝 give me a break, they're easier to clean being yellow. Now if the toilets had teeth and sucked the urine from your body, that might be considered horrific.🙄

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Toilets to... match the contents! haha. At our company here, the tiles are yellow, but I don't consider them to be 'urine yellow' like in this building. I'm also trying not to image what you've described in the second sentence :D

[@PracticalCat]

The wreckless and inconsiderate Reno vations

[@caroleast9636]

Looking forward to seeing the next part. Those lifts look to be in remarkable condition after being abandoned for over 30 years. It wouldn’t take a lot of work to refurb back into going order. Probably though, a lot would be stripped and, at the very least, the control system and the car would be replaced. These are classic Otis systems for the period. I’ve installed countless numbers of these, but how many engineers are left now that even understand how to maintain these systems?

[@lapub.]

If they can get one more flat instead of a machine room they'll do. I'm always amazed by the space required for motor and all the cabinet of rely of the time compared to now with the motor at the top of the shaft and the "control room" being hidden in the frame of the highest level door.