Work is well underway on the new £350 million Kingsway business park off Junction 21. The site will contain a mixture of commercial land uses alongside residential areas and 30 hectares of dedicated conservational parkland.
Costain, the main infrastructure contractor is responsible for phase 1 of the development which includes: a new Junction 21 slip road; the construction of a main spine & distribution road; the demolition of Dig Gate Lane bridge and replacement with new access bridge; creation of drainage lagoons; the formation of Stanny Brook corridor and the levelling of ground to establish building plots.
So far, 180,000 labour hours have been utilised on the site with over 71 Oldham & Rochdale residents, having worked on the site. Whilst most of the work is specialist, it is expected that once the actual erection of buildings commences in Autumn 06, many more skilled operatives will be needed.
Rochdale resident Alan Ward, an experienced groundworker, currently operating specialist water purification equipment, secured employment through recruitment agency Thorn Baker and has worked on the site since July, he comments “ I’m thrilled to be working in my home town after spending many years working all over the country. As someone who enjoys the countryside, I’m highly impressed with the standards of health & safety applied on this site and all the efforts made by Costain to preserve wildlife and natural habitats. Together with many other local lads working here, we all hope to get many more years work out of this job”.
Shaw based civil engineering contractor DCT has recently completed a £800k contract on behalf of Wilson Bowden Developments. The bulk of this centred around: site clearance, extensive earthworks, diverting services, soft landscaping, fencing, creating wild life habitats, planting trees and creating a network of footpaths.
DCT contracts manager Ray Birch comments “Securing the contract was important to us, not only have we had input into a key strategic site, but the money earned from the contract has benefited local people. We’re a family run business, most of our employees live local and this has helped secure jobs”.