Cardington Airship Sheds

[Rlangham]

On the way to the Shuttleworth Collection from the M1 southbound, you (should, taking the fastest route) pass the enormous Cardington air sheds, visible from miles around. The oldest looking shed (Hangar One) was completed in 1917, with the more modern one (which has been re-cladded) completed in 1928. Each hangar is 247 metres long and 59 metres tall.

 

Hangar One was home to the post-WW1 R101 airship which crashed in France killing all on board. Nowadays, it's home to a company still making lighter than air vehicles, although nowhere near the size the shed was built to hold. Hangar Two is used for filmwork, including scenes from Batman Begins (and presumably the new one, Dark Knight, as well)

 

Apologies for the bad shots, the ones of Hangar One were taken from a moving car (I wasn't driving, i'd like to add!)

 

 

Hangar Two

 

 

Hangar One

 

[Topdog]

Both are listed buildings. I thought the tatty one was owned by a telecoms company which is in dire straights. Apparently needs about 4 million to put right. I spent 4 weeks at DSA Cardington, just next door.

For anyone who has failed a driving test....DSA stands for 'Dont Stand A chance'

[Tony B]

Isn't one of them used for Fire research? Big enough to build an entire house in.

[Tunnel_Rat]

Some scenes from the film Batman begins were filmed there, parts of Gotham City were built inside, the film was codenamed 'the intimidation game', I think Warner Bros restored the hanger before filming.

 

A pic of inside.

http://www.xiongdudu.com/picview.php?title=BatmanBegins&photo=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestudiotour.com%2Fcardington%2Fbatmanbegins1.jpg

 

Oops, just read post above :-/

Edited August 29, 2010 by Tunnel_Rat

[antar]

Antarmikes old Antar used to be used to pull open the hangar doors at Cardington, I think it was because the motor / drive mechanism for the doors was broken. I think the doors weigh in excess of a 100 tonnes each.

[mike65]

If i rember correctly the hanger with the buildings inside is owned and operated by/for the BRE (Building Research Establishment).

It gives them some where to test various buiding design concepts in a contro;;ed environment.

I also rember that it was not just a house built inside but a 6 storey "office" building to test slab design principles.

 

Mike

[mike65]

Not just one building eithe.

Check this out for some impressive poctures which really show the scale of the buildings.

I very much douby anything will get built on their scale again.

 

http://www.trada.co.uk/techinfo/library/view/44DEFBCA-5137-4A65-8A3B-B07EBD2E56A4/Timber+frame+2000/index.html

 

Mike

[abn deuce]

A great read thanks for finding and posting the link

[utt61]

Several years ago, probably around 1990, there was an open day at Cardington which I went to. At that time, one shed was used for storing cars for distribution and the other (the open one) was used for fire research. There was a five story (IIRC) block of flats built inside it at that time for fire research, which didn't even approach the roof of the structure.

 

I did take quite a lot of photos of both the inside and the outside of the sheds which I will try to find. Unfortunately this was in the pre-digital age so it will take a while to sort through many boxes of prints.

 

In you ever get the chance to visit these structures then jump at it - the sheer size will take your breath away!

[mike65]

Got a notification about one of the survey companies we work with doing some rebranding and updating their website.

Thought I would post the link here as they have recently surveyed No 1 hanger for refurb work.

Includes a PDf of elevations and section which may be of interest to some.

 

http://www.mksurveys.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101:airship-hanger-building-survey&catid=46:older-interesting-projects&Itemid=37

 

Mike

[antarmike]

Antarmikes old Antar used to be used to pull open the hangar doors at Cardington, I think it was because the motor / drive mechanism for the doors was broken. I think the doors weigh in excess of a 100 tonnes each.

Each door of number 2 hanger weighs 470 tons.

One coat of paint on the hanger is 4 tons......