I agree Cobweb, it's always the small places like these that can specialise and come up with some odd but groundbreaking research. Rather like the former local urbex haunt, the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital and it's specialist treatment of arthritis (although again, from the state of the buildings, you wouldn't know much about what went on there).
You would think that about the green things - I'll have to take a closer look next time I go there, see what it's connected up to. There are a fair few of them dotted around the buildings. I don't recall any drains in the corridors however, if it was actually a shower.
Apparently, according to a friend's family friend, they had live animals coming in and eating grass and things. From the records I have looked at they also used radioactive substances for some of their experiments. Still not quite sure exactly what went on where; some rooms are obviously offices or laboratories, but others are just bare and non-descript.
The place does look a lot better in the sunshine, I must agree. I went in on sunny days in spring and summer, and it really brightens the place up. I have been in on overcast days in the spring and winter too, and it looks very drab, and reflects badly in the photos too. The 'scary blind' mentioned in the gallery was flapping about inconsistently in moderate winds, a little disconcerting, but not comparable to slamming doors.
The heating tunnel follows the corridor line across the bottom of the building, with hatches placed periodically along the floor. That wasn't too exciting, although there was another one which had little rooms coming off it, and ended in a utility cupboard with a few feet drop to the floor - rather strange. They were only big enough to crawl through, and I have hit my head on one of the pipes, foolishly.
Thanks for all the positive comments - I'm back in the area from 25 March, so if anyone is interested, give me a shout.