Longbridge Demolition 28th October 2008
The above pictures show North Works, the marked out area above is where the culvert under the factory takes the River Rea from the Bristol Road to Longbridge Lane. The foundations are then broken up and carried over the railway by the Signal Box to be deposited in South Works
Update 24th May 2008
Work has already started on the demolition of the New West Works
which was built for assembling Metro bodies in 1980.
Also work is now starting on the demolition of the General Office Block (GOB) which is on the Lickey Road. It was built in 1931 as a Service Department and Spares Centre. When this was transferred to the Flight Shed in the 1950s, the building became the main location for the general office related jobs. At the Lowhill Lane end on the top floor was the Telephone Exchange.
Above is the Methods Build on Lowhill Lane. The last major pre-production build was the BMW Mini in 1999, which was to be built at Longbridge but was sent to Cowley, when BMW sold the company in 2000.
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The demolition of the Longbridge Site started in 2006 after Nangjing had bought the company from the Administrator.It was nearly twelve months before the first phase of the demolition started with the removal of the conveyor bridge that took unpainted bodies from the West Works over the A38 to the South side and up to the Car Assemble Building.
The Old West Works was the next to be demolished.
New West Works built for the Metro bodies although cleared of all the equipment it is still standing. But if a tenant can not be found by the end of the year then that build is likely to be demolished.
The next site to be demolished was the North Works. This site was built in the first World War and consisted of a Foundry, Machine Shops, Tool Room and later on produced the 'A' series engine.
East Works was the next and this was the biggest site to be demolished. This site also included the Cofton Works which was built to machine and assemble the 'E' series engine, and gearbox. The first car that used this power unit was the Maxi.
The last site was part of South Works which is where the the Company Started. This was the area that you could see as you drove down the A38 from Rubery, which had in the foreground the island that was always a theatre of colour.
2008 will see the following landmarks demolished. The General Office Block on the Lickey Road. The railway Ticket Office on the bridge, Also it looks that the New West Works (Metro Shop) will also disappear in the first quarter of 2008.