Two years and £10 million to flatten Ironbridge Power Station - as thieves target site
Demolishing the former Ironbridge Power Station could cost about £10 million and take two years to complete, it has emerged.
Security measures have also had to be introduced since the Harworth Group bought the site in June because of thieves from all over the country trying to break in.
Two proposals for the site have already been unveiled to the public, giving an idea of where hundreds of homes, businesses and leisure facilities could sit within the Gorge.
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An update on the project, which could take 15 years to complete, was given at a breakfast meeting attended by the county’s business leaders in Shrewsbury yesterday.
Representatives from the site owner gave a list of the challenges they face, with demolition and security high on the list.
Stuart Ashton, head of planning at the Harworth Group, said: “We have got a lot of work and technical issues to tackle.
“All the discussions over what is staying and going is finished. We now have to sort out the demolition of the site which will take at least two years. We are now out to tender and we will have to select a partner to work with.
“You have got huge costs with the redevelopment of the site. We are expecting to have costs of about £10 million to carry out the demolition. There will be a further £10 million to do the remediation work, then another £10-20 million to put the infrastructure back in there.
“One of the problems we had was when we acquired the site lots of other people have wanted to try and get into it. We have thieves from all over the country trying to break in.
"We have infrared cameras and dog patrols on there. It is a real issue for us getting on the site and getting going with the demolition.”
Mr Ashton said other challenges include the National Grid substation which shares the site.
“There is a big flat building in the middle – that is a National Grid substation. One of the real constraints we have got with developing the site is that staying,” he said.
“They are going to be our long-term tenant – they have a 99-year lease on that building.”
“Another problem we have there is Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA) is all over it. We have got two power stations on there – one which is buried under PFA, then we have the new one which closed in 2015.”
Masterplan to be drawn up for site
Harworth will create a detailed "masterplan" before further consultation events are held next spring.
Representatives of the Harworth Group say they are excited by the project. Once complete, it will become a mixed use site and could feature hundreds of homes, leisure facilities, shops, a hotel, medical centre and school.
Mr Ashton added: "We have got some huge challenges to make the scheme viable, but we are excited to be a part of this.
"We have got a good track record and we know what we are doing.
"We are not from around here so we have come into the county to try and get to grips with it.
"We have been welcomed in and we have had lots of meetings with Shropshire Council for them to understand what we want to do.
"We have a series of rapid meetings before Christmas. We will create a detailed masterplan of how the site can be developed.
"We will have another round of consultation events in the spring."
Two proposals for the site have already been unveiled to the public, giving an idea of where the homes, businesses and other facilities could sit on the site.
"When we acquired the site the first thing we wanted to do is invite people in," Mr Ashton said.
"On September 27 we invited key stakeholders who we thought had key information to meet us to help us with the development of the site. Out of that we got the key issues that need addressing.
"We then did the same thing with the public on October 11. It was a fantastic event.
"We used all the information we gathered from them events to create a masterplan. It is very much the first stage of the planning process.
"What we are going to end up with is a mixed use site of residential, employment, commercial, leisure, school, open space. We are talking about 1,000 homes."
Mr Ashton said one of the biggest things to come out of the public consultation are calls to reopen the railway linking Ironbridge and Birmingham.
Mr Ashton added: "We have been doing presentations around the county, including parish councils as well as other interest groups.
"I think people are generally supportive of the redevelopment of the site. One issue is the scale of the site which we are used to.
"The key thing to come out of the planning process to date has been reopening the rail link. We have an existing rail link in there which was used to bring things like coal into the site.
"We have also been asked about a park and ride on site and can the road network cope.
"Another issue which always crops up is doctor surgeries and education. We have started those discussions already and will be working with Shropshire Council. We welcome those facilities on site."
The Harworth Group has a long history of transforming disused industrial sites.
Its previous projects include the former Orgreave Colliery in Rotherham, probably best known for the infamous pitched battles between police and pickets trying to shut down the coking works during the 1984/5 miners’ strike.
The site, which was once an industrial wasteland, now houses thousands of people, and by the time it is finished it will have a population roughly the size of Ludlow.
Associate director Iain Thomson added: "We are a first-time investor in Shropshire, we have no previous land in the county.
"People are asking what attracts inward investors into Shropshire – this site in Ironbridge is massively in our sweet spot.
"Its an expensive sweet spot – its not only the price of buying the land in the first place, but there is remediation, infrastructure and everything else that comes with it afterwards.
"We bought the land in June after a two-year process of buying the site. We have spent the last five months actively working through what we plan to do and getting them in place."
