Europe's most contaminated site’ in Walsall cleared, making way for £100m regeneration project

The remediation work to clear up ‘the most contaminated site in Europe’ has drawn to a close, making way for SPARK, Walsall’s 40-acre logistics and manufacturing hub.

The site formerly known as Phoenix 10 is located off Reservoir Place.

It was previously home to the James Bridge Copper Works which closed in 1999 and left behind a derelict wasteland tainted by industrial contaminants.

Despite the complex nature of the clean-up, property developer HBD said the site was successfully remediated without sending thousands of tonnes of material to landfill.

Over one million tonnes of material was excavated and processed, much of which was recycled to construct the development platform for SPARK, while treating 5.7 million litres of groundwater.

Construction is set to begin early next year with the first units expected to be available by autumn 2025.

They range from 20,000 to 250,000 square feet and are set to offer high-spec space to support the region’s manufacturing and logistics industries.

The scheme aims to create over 4,000 new jobs and build more than 1,000 new homes.

Part of Walsall’s £1.5 billion transformation, SPARK is a collaboration between the council, HBD, Homes England and West Midlands Combined Authority.

Ed Hutchinson, managing director of HBD, said: “It’s fantastic to have reached this milestone at SPARK, transforming what was once the largest undeveloped brownfield site in the Black Country into a development-ready project.

“SPARK is key to meeting demand for high-quality, sustainable manufacturing space in the West Midlands, while boosting the economy with more than a thousand new jobs.

"There are very few developments as well-located, which has driven strong early interest from occupiers.”

Councillor Adrian Andrew, deputy leader of Walsall Council said: “It’s great to see how much progress has been made at SPARK and I’m really excited to see construction start soon.

“SPARK is a huge project for Walsall and will create hundreds of jobs and lots of great business opportunities.

"It’s been a long road to get to this point but I’m really proud to have been able to work with HBD to bring this site back into economic use and create opportunities for local people.”

HBD is currently overseeing several other major projects across the country such as Island, a £66 million net zero workspace scheme in Manchester, Momentum, an industrial and logistics development in London, Setl in Birmingham, a residential scheme in the Jewellery Quarter and Golden Valley, a science and technology hub in Cheltenham.