Exploring the Abandoned Powergen, Solihull!
Big thanks to MOD Jelly on the Photographs and MOD Dan2 on editing!
As a kid, I lived opposite this abandoned site for about 13 years, long before I became an explorer. It was obvious that this would definitely be a building I’d explore one day. Some of the history surrounding this building is quite dark. There are rumours online of a tunnel system used by MI5 and MI6, and claims that the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors of the block were also used by MI5 and MI6. There are multiple reports of people being moved via the tunnels and of individuals being brainwashed at this location. How true this is, I am unsure.
We explored this building back in 2016, and it was not easy at all. With security based inside the building and positioned at the rear, it was challenging to gain entry. We explored this building around 15 times, popping back and forth to try and find out more about what this place was used for. This has to be one of the most interesting explores.
The Powergen building once stood at the junction of Stratford Road and Haslucks Green Road in Shirley, Solihull. It was part of the offices for the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), which later became Powergen — one of the companies formed after the UK electricity industry was privatised.
The building was designed in the 1960s by notable Birmingham architect John Madin, who also designed other major local structures such as the old Birmingham Central Library. Its style reflected the era’s modernist/brutalist trends, making it distinctive but also controversial among local residents.
Powergen vacated the site in the mid-1990s, around 1995, leaving the building largely unused for many years. After closure, the site sat derelict for decades and became a familiar, if slightly eerie, landmark in Shirley.
In 2015, while still abandoned, the building’s decaying appearance made it an ideal filming location for the zombie movie The Girl With All the Gifts (starring Glenn Close). The production used the site’s rugged, abandoned atmosphere to depict a post-apocalyptic setting.
The Powergen building was demolished in 2017 to make way for redevelopment. Today, the site has been transformed into Solihull Retirement Village (also known as Solihull Village) — a modern residential community with homes and facilities for people over 55.
