Cheshire East Environmental Waste Facility

A new recycling depot that provides local employment and places Cheshire East among the most environmentally friendly places in the UK.

Wates Construction undertook the project for Cheshire East Council on the redundant Ideal Standard site in Middlewich as part of our partnership with the North West Construction Hub.

The new depot will enable the Council to increase its recycling and will cut landfill use to a minimum, creating environmental and economic benefits for residents in Cheshire East.

The move will not only preserve existing jobs, it is estimated that it will enable the relocation of up to 400 new jobs in Middlewich and reduce long-term costs.

The new depot, located on the disused Ideal Standards site in Middlewich, is now the Borough’s main recycling centre. It also provides a new headquarters for Ansa Environmental Services; the Council’s operating company for recycling and streetscape services. It is a multi-use site offering a wide range of services including street cleaning, grounds and parks maintenance, transport and fleet maintenance.

Site challenges and requirements

The site area of the project was 63,000m2, with 50% of this developed with buildings in a variety of repair.

The majority of these were demolished to clear the site for the construction of a 5000m2 new build Waste transfer station with 200,000t pa capability.

The building includes bay doors and ceiling heights sufficient to accommodate waste vehicles and incorporate vehicle weighbridge facilities, licensing and ticketing requirements.

Alongside the new build, we refurbished approx. 5000m² of existing industrial and office buildings on the site.

The industrial buildings have become new fleet maintenance, servicing and garage workshop facilities to accommodate a large and diverse variety of operational vehicles, plant and equipment.

The facilities include vehicle washing and fuelling, electrical charging and storage areas as well as external and covered vehicle parking. The accommodation also includes VOSA testing facilities for MOT’s.

The office accommodation and welfare facilities will incorporate open plan facilities with separate offices for the management team, together with training and meeting room facilities.

The offices and all the site are all fully serviced with CCTV, ICT, telecommunications, gas, electric, water and waste water infrastructure, as well as having a managed security barrier access service to all of the key entrances.

The project also required a new car park, resurfacing  large areas of existing concrete hardstandings and site rationalisation works.

One of the areas we resolved was the problem of large amounts of contamination in the ground including asbestos.

Impact on local area

Jobseekers from across East Cheshire were given an exclusive opportunity to undertake a two-week training course with Wates Construction in conjunction with Cheshire East Council’s new waste and recycling hub in Middlewich.

Seventeen over-19s took part in Wates’ ‘Building Futures’ course, a unique programme of hands-on trade sessions designed to give them a career kick-start in the construction industry. 

The two-week intensive course included plumbing and joinery sessions at Crewe YMCA and a visit to Wates’ site at the new recycling centre in Middlewich to give candidates the chance to see building trades in action.

The Building Futures programme also included job interview preparation and CV workshops with Wates and our supply chain partners.

In addition, working with a local environmental education charity Wates delivered a range of educational and action planning sessions at Cledford Primary School that promoted better environmental understanding and encourage pupil-lead eco-projects.

This is a new programme by Wates which is having its first trial in Middlewich before it is evaluated and rolled out to other areas around the country.