In its time, the Marconi building in New Street, Chelmsford developed many products for radio and television, but nearly a century on from the historic broadcast by Dame Nellie Melba; journalists from BBC Essex have managed to gain easy access to the now abandoned building, which is currently in the hands of receivers.
A BBC journalist filmed pictures of a trail of destruction throughout the building, which is part-listed. Near the office of the founder of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, there was evidence of drug abuse inside a makeshift squat strewn with litter.
Alison Hodgkins-Brown, BBC Essex News Editor, was one of the four-strong team to go onto the site. She says: “We wanted to show people that behind the boarded up windows and doors, such an important building in broadcasting history is being torn apart inside. Anything of value – copper, brass, wiring – has been stripped out and vandals have sprayed the walls with graffiti.”
BBC Essex showed the pictures to the only surviving child of Marconi, Princess Elettra Marconi-Giovanelli, who said the state of the building was “disgraceful” and called on those looking after the former factory to restore it to its former glory out of respect for her father’s memory. She said: “I am very sad to see how the situation is… because I understand that they don’t care about the building, it’s abandoned… I’m very upset to see that this beautiful building is not appreciated.”
The chairman of the Marconi Veterans Association, Peter Turrell, told BBC Essex: “I am disgusted and annoyed – the world owes a lot to Marconi and we will be very, very upset if this building ever goes into real decay.”
A spokesman for the receivers, Zolfo Cooper, who are responsible for the building, told the BBC they have recently tightened security of the site – including round the clock monitoring – as they were so concerned about trespassers gaining access.
Visit bbc.co.uk/essex to view images taken inside the Marconi building, and watch the video.
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