This site has been done a few times before, but it's worth an update from 2026!
Fernhurst research station has been run by many organisations over the years, having been built by Plant Protection Limited in 1945, by a joint venture with Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). It's main focus is agricultural chemical (weedkillers and pest control) research, this mainly being offices and labs, with some external research sites. In 1994, it was taken over by Zenaca (of Astrazeneca fame), and then Syngenta, doing the same work. The main site eventually closed down in December 2001, and has been left abandoned ever since.
The office building itself is huge though, and took many hours, and keeping a log of which wings and floors I'd explored else I'd be lost!
Inside had been completely stripped of anything useful, with all the cabling ripped out.
All the toilets were a lovely shade of 1980s green!
Someone had even made a small skate park from one of the central rooms.
Even the courtyards had gone wild!
The basement was flooded on every visit, but only about 3" deep last time I went.
There are a few external buildings around, one of which has helpfully been torched!
The pyramid building was built in 1986 as a conference centre, but has since been taken over as the corporate office of Aspinal of London, and is still in use.
This was my first outing with the drone for urbex, so I hope you enjoy this reveal!
You can find the entire collection here.