Longbridge demolition marks next step of regeneration
The main factory buildings at MG Rover's former epicentre at Longbridge have been demolished, after a complex process that required the careful removal of significant amounts of asbestos.
The demolition of the 270,000 square feet of industrial buildings known as Paint A and Dalmuir, is the latest step in the multi-million pound project to regenerate the decimated area. It will see 115 homes built on the site.
Developers, St Mowden, said the job took 20 weeks and a workforce of 30 to complete. Construction manager, Mark Batchelor, said, "We have now demolished approximately five million square feet of redundant buildings at Longbridge to date. The demolition of the Paint A and Dalmuir buildings represents the next important phase in the process of site clearance.
“The two buildings are located on the site of the proposed £100 million Longbridge town centre.”
6,000 jobs were lost at the factory – which had been in operation on the site since 1905 – when Rover was wound up in 2005, plunging the area into a dire predicament of unemployment and unused and unusable land.
The regeneration had faced an uncertain future recently, when government spending cuts saw money for it reined it. The Homes and Communities Agency, however, managed to find £3.6 million to subsidise it through to completion.
