CHIMNEY DEMOLITION MARKS BRIGHT FUTURE FOR WOLVERHAMPTON

The weekend’s demolition of the Goodyear chimney, by St Modwen properties PLC, will signified the start of a bright future for the former tyre factory site, when all 143,226 bricks of the 55 metre Wolverhampton landmark came down.

The event, celebrated by hundreds of onlookers, marked a significant milestone in St Modwen’s redevelopment of the 85 acre site, which is gradually being transformed into a £150 million urban community of 660 homes, a 16 acre park, a new school and neighbourhood retail scheme.

A short ceremony from St Modwen and Goodyear preceded the 11am controlled explosion. Tasked with the responsibility for pushing the ‘final button’ was Alisia Tonkin, from local school ‘Oxley Primary’ and winner of a competition held by St Modwen, asking the school children to guess how many bricks the chimney comprised.

Commenting on the occasion, Anthony Glossop, chairman of St Modwen Properties PLC said:
“Having stood for over 70 years, the chimney has since become a local landmark in Wolverhampton but sadly, in recent years, it had become structurally unsafe and has to come down. However, its demolition marks a real turning point in the redevelopment of this site and we look forward to delivering a scheme that makes a real and positive difference to Wolverhampton.

“We bought the site from Goodyear in 2002 and have since been working closely in partnership with the company to deliver a development that completely transforms this industrialised quarter of Wolverhampton into an attractive and sustainable urban community. At the same time the redevelopment has allowed Goodyear to reinvest in its plant on the adjacent site, which continues to play a key role in its global manufacturing operation.”

Clock tower to stay

As part of the £150 million redevelopment, St Modwen will retain and refurbish the clock tower which sits adjacent to Goodyear’s retained operations on site. Built in the early 1900s, the tower pre-dates the Goodyear factory and will ‘live on’ in the new development; either as part of the retail element or as part of the new school site. As the development progresses, St Modwen will also reinstate the tower’s clock which stopped over 40 years ago.

The next steps in the redevelopment programme will see St Modwen cleaning up the site, in preparation for building the first properties in the next few years.

Notes to Editors:

St Modwen acquired the 85 acre site from Goodyear in 2002 and has subsequently obtained outline planning permission for:
• 38 acres of housing, including affordable
• 16 acre neighbourhood park for general local use
• 2.5 acres for a school
• 1.5 acres of neighbourhood retail

Goodyear has retained 18 acres, on which its factory makes tyre compounds and specialist truck tyres for export.

St Modwen is the UK’s leading regeneration specialist, operating across the full spectrum of the property industry through a network of six regional offices and a Birmingham based head office. The company is wholly focussed upon regeneration with expertise in town centre regeneration, partnering industry, brownfield land renewal and heritage restoration.

For further information, please contact:

St Modwen Properties PLC:
Charlotte McCarthy
PR Manager
T: 07970 949 914
E: cmccarthy@stmodwen.co.uk
Peter Rudd
Development Surveyor
T: 0121 222 9400

Goodyear Dunlop
James Bailey
Corporate Communications Manager
T: 0121 306 6328
E: jbailey@goodyear.com