ON SITE
Taking Over the Asylum Asbestos, bats, protected trees, hidden tunnels, urban explorers and ghost hunters are just some of the challenges that faced Mick George Ltd when it won the contract to demolish a former asylum in Essex. The company is proving to be more than a match, as Mark Anthony reports.
To say that Colchester’s Severalls Hospital has a chequered past is like saying Donald Trump has made some questionable hair choices. It was built in 1910 to the design of architect Frank Whitmore, opened in May 1913 and would initially serve as a psychiatric facility for shell-shocked troops returning from the trenches of World War 1. The 120 hectare site housed more than 3,000 patients and was based on the “Echelon plan” - a specific arrangement of wards, offices and services within easy reach of each other by a network of interconnecting corridors and underground tunnels. This meant that staff were able to operate around the site without the need to go outside in bad weather. Villas were constructed around the main hospital building as accommodation blocks between 1910 and 1935.
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