Plans revealed for green skills centre at retail park

Work to transform a retail park in Bolton into a ‘centre of excellence for green technology and skills’ could start this summer after plans to redevelop the site were unveiled.

Greenworks, loacted on Trinity Retail Park based off the A666 (St Peter’s Way) is a Bolton at Home project delivered in partnership with Bolton charity Urban Outreach.

The site will allow businesses from across Greater Manchester to train staff up on green technology used to retrofit homes, allowing companies to better compete for low carbon contracts retrofitting and homes and making them more energy efficient.

Once complete, the site will also offer workspaces, meeting rooms and training centres for low carbon SMEs to meet and work with, including offering support and encouraging new and emerging companies in the low carbon sector to grow.

The aim is to help achieve a sustainable net-zero carbon future while supporting businesses in in the low carbon construction and energy sectors.

A planning application submitted to Bolton Council outlines the initial work to fit out classrooms, training areas, work benches and offices inside the main Greenworks learning unit, while also developing two floors of storage area for Urban Outreach’s food bank, plus reception and office facilities for the charity.

Plans for a second phase include exploring future sustainability options such as solar panels, wind turbines, rainwater harvesting and electric vehicle charging sites, plus building a modular training house on site.

Additionally, Urban Outreach, which invested in the site last year to secure its food storage and distribution facility, plans to use the space for food growing, food recycling and hydroponics – to help reduce food poverty across the town.

Greenworks is operated as a not-for-profit enterprise, with any surplus reinvested back into local community projects such as helping people into employment.
Noel Sharpe, deputy group chief executive at Bolton at Home and chair of the Bolton Vision Partnership’s Economic Prosperity Group, said: “Retrofitting houses is one of the major challenges we face if Bolton is to become carbon neutral.

“Green technologies such as heat pumps, solar panels and rainwater harvesting are all available in the market, however there is a large skills gap in the number of people and businesses locally who are able to fit, maintain and repair them.

“Once open, businesses across Bolton and the North West will be able to benefit from the opportunities on site, from upskilling their staff in low carbon technologies, through to meeting like-minded companies and using the learning space on offer.”