Abandoned Norfolk: Engineering Firm Offices, Norwich

Just down the road from our explore of an abandoned pumping station, this large abandoned site was once the headquarters of May Gurney, a civil engineering firm. May Gurney was launched from a wooden shed in the area in 1912, and grew into a multimillion pound firm that worked with local councils on roads and waste collection, as well as on large infrastructure projects with bodies such as Network Rail and Anglian Water.

In 2013, after a challenging period for profits, the firm was sold to Kier Group, another large civil engineering and construction company. Kier continued use of the site up until 2017.

Exploring The Abandoned May Gurney Headquarters

Quickly hopping over the fence, we found ourselves walking across a large car park, with large weeds emerging through the cracks in the tarmac. Signage on the site showed that it had a new lease of life after the engineering firms left, both as offices and storage for a local car dealership, and as a distribution centre or storage for a logistics firm.

Piles of rubble and jagged concrete show that parts of the site had been demolished, and a walkway between two buildings has been reduced to scraps of metal. The buildings that do remain were mostly relatively bland offices, with a few server shelves, desks and chairs left behind. A brick-built building on the boundary of the site, bordering the road, seemed to be the oldest and contained the most interesting features.

This large site, alongside neighbouring brownfield sites, is due to be transformed into apartments and houses, but for now it remains an eyesore on the main road through this leafy Norwich suburb.

Last Updated on 27 September 2022 by Michael