Brewery demolition to begin
Demolition work to take down the eyesore former Mansfield Brewery site has finally been given the go ahead –– with the announcement made on the same day as fire destroyed former offices at the plant.
Bulldozers are expected to move onto the Littleworth site start later this month after Mansfield District Council revealed it had awarded the contract to carry out the work to Welsh firm, the Cuddy Group.
The site has been a magnet for vandals and firebugs since the brewery ceased operations in 2001 and was once again hit by fire in the early hours of yesterday morning when an empty bottling site was destroyed.
In the latest incident it took fire crews from across the county more than two hours to put out the blaze, which is believed to have broken out after homeless people got into the plant and started a fire to keep warm.
Now fire chiefs are urging people to stay away from the site, with work on the six-month demolition expected to begin on 21st April
Said Arnold Station Manager Dick Dawson: "What we are trying to do now is work with Mansfield District Council to make the location more secure, at the end of the day if vagrants can get in kids can get in and play.
"It's a danger to people to go into the site, places like that are more dangerous to people when they are derelict than when they are in use."
The council –– which had put out to tender the work –– has been awarded £500,000 from the East Midlands Development Agency to demolish the buildings.
But the council's choice of contractor has not been welcomed by everyone, with bosses at Nottingham-based CMEC Demolition saying it should have chosen a local company to carry out the work.
Said managing director Antony Hopkinson: "There were at least four other local contractors who applied to do it that have equally been unsuccessful.
"My annoyance was that we as a company could have easily carried out the work. We were outraged that a local council has not chosen to look at the local industry and local contractors."
But Mansfield mayor Tony Egginton told Chad there had been nearly 80 applicants for the tender and the company chosen does have an office in Worksop.
He said the council always tried to promote local businesses but there was a number of criteria which had to be met, including value for money and a short time-scale for starting on site and completing the job.
The council approved planning guidance for potential developers of the site earlier this year, which sets out a vision for a mixed-use development with offices, leisure activities and residential use.
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