Here you will (hopefully) find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the website, as well as tips for how to get the most from it.
Can I still visit the campus?
The honest answer is ‘not sure’. As you will see from the photographic tour, the campus was secured at the time of the photography visits with perimeter fence and 24 hour patrolling security. All buildings were locked and alarmed too. Daytime campus access was possible to the Science Park but the gates were locked at the end of each day.
I don’t recognise the names of the buildings
The names of the buildings during the Brunel years have been used, as they were familiar to the author, but in their previous life as Shoreditch Training College some buildings (mainly the halls of residence) were known by different names. If anyone can shed some light on this, it would be great to know what they were called. Please get in touch
Why is the campus such a mess?
This is seemingly the result of many years of neglect and decay. When the campus was photographed in September 2008 it had already been vacant for some time, being only used occasionally as a TV and Movie filming location. Maintenance to the site had effectively stopped around 2004 when Brunel announced it was disposing of the campus and began to seek a buyer. The sale to the Oracle Group was finalised in May 2007, so the campus, as captured here, was suffering from up to four years of neglect.
The most shocking was the state of some of the older buildings internally. Large areas of President, College and Kimberley Hall had suffered major water damage through their roofs, causing ceiling to collapse in places.
How do I control the panoramic photography?
Once loaded, you can do several things with the panoramic photos. Using a mouse or trackpad, you can click and drag around the scene to turn around and explore around, above and below you. Holding the SHIFT key whilst exploring will zoom you into a scene, and holding CTRL will zoom you out again.
If the combination of scrolling and zooming doesn’t afford you a good enough view of something, try picking another viewpoint (nearby ones are listed under each view) or return to the map and pick one from there.