Out of Town: Junction Eco Park
ON first appearances, Ainscough Strategic Land’s (ASL) decision to rebrand the former Chloride Batteries site in Salford as Junction Eco Park seems like chutzpah.
The 45-acre industrial development in Swinton bears some scars from the heavy industrial use which took place on the site for more than 100 years, and there aren’t too many signs of bird boxes or other wildlife-friendly features on a site that abuts a busy sections of the M60 motorway.
Yet director Martin Ainscough is serious about establishing the site’s environmental credentials.
“We are genuinely trying to get to the point where this is a carbon-neutral site,” he said.
ASL has spent £6m redeveloping the site since acquiring it three years ago, when it employed just 100 people
“To all intents and purposes it was a vacant possession and we’ve been working since then to get the place going by trying to get some money and some rent coming in, and trying to get some people involved.
“Fortunately, as we’ve done that, it’s become very clear to us that this site would be ideal for an eco-park – a site centred around recycling.”
The firm has remodelled several of the buildings and has re-let more than half of the available space to Carlick Furniture and to waste management company Roydon, who have relocated from Heywood and Rochdale respectively.
In total, more than 20 units have been let and now more than 200 people work on the site.
Roydon has consolidated three former buildings into a 130,000 sq ft building taking up around nine acres of space. The company currently employs 70 people recycling plastics, cardboard and other waste materials onsite but owner Wilf Sumner said that it has plans to expand.
“Our plan in the next two years is to put in another £3m-£5m of investment to allow us to carry out further recycling of plastic bottles and take on another 50 people. We really like this building. There’s a lot of natural light which helps to keep energy costs down.”
In fact, the unit was adapted by Ainscough, with old corrugated metal panels removed and replaced by translucent sheets to provide more natural lighting.
Sumner said that if Roydon had to light the sprawling space artificially it would cost around £2,000 per week.
As revealed by TheBusinessDesk.com earlier this month, ASL is also planning to install an energy from waste plant on the site, which would use material both from Roydon and waste wood from Carlick Furniture as feedstock.
“We understand that they are sometimes contentions but it will allow us to deal with waste on site rather than sending it up the road again.
“We believe that this site has the right credentials.
“It’s still very early stages – we’re speaking to planners and to potential partners who are experienced in running them.
“But we want to recycle more waste and if we get the necessary permission we will install a plant. We use something like 3MW of power on this site so it would be useful for us to supply some of that.”
Ainscough said that it was working on other initiatives with Carlick – such as the installation of solar panels – to reduce its carbon footprint.
“There’s an awful lot of talk about green energy – everybody’s jumping on the bandwagon, including us.
“But in 50 years time there probably won’t be any oil or gas left, according to (ex-BP chairman) John Browne.
“So we have to find other ways of doing things. If we can make some money along the way while we’re doing that then yippee, because that’s what we’re about.”
ASL has also converted the former Chloride Batters headquarters building, which has more than a hint of faded grandeur about it, into a social enterprise centre where it is providing free space for a number of not-for-profit businesses.
Tenants already signed up include Preston-based furniture recycler Recycling Lives, Skills2Build and a carbon-neutral clothing label called Council Royalty.
“What we’re trying to do is get synergy benefits and get as many different charities in here as possible so that they all bounce off each other,” he said.
