Inovyn to build Runcorn headquarters
The chemical company is set to secure planning consent for a 72,200 sq ft office and a 12,000 sq ft employee wellbeing centre at its site in Runcorn, due to be home to around 450 staff.
Inovyn, owned by chemical giant Ineos, currently houses its staff in a scattered estate of buildings across its existing chemical complex in Runcorn.
The company is planning to relocate its employees into a dedicated headquarters building ona brownfield site off Bankes Lane. The 72,200 sq ft four-storey office, designed by Michael Laird Architects, is designed to a grade A standard.
This is designed with similar materials to parent company Ineos’ headquarters in Grangemouth, Scotland, and will feature staff facilities including a restaurant, meetings spaces, and breakout areas.
Along with the office, Inovyn is also planning to build a wellbeing centre for its workers, which will include a gym, fitness studio, changing and drying rooms. This extends to around 12,000 sq ft and will sit opposite the proposed headquarters.
An existing office building on the site, as well as a small reservoir, will be cleared to make way for the development, which is also set to include 450 car parking spaces.
The proposals are due to go before Halton Council’s development management committee later this week, with a recommendation to approve from planning officers.
The officers’ report argued the proposals were “of a particularly high quality of design, set within a quality, useable landscaping and open space, especially considering the wider industrial setting”.
“The redevelopment will replace a number of existing dated and low-quality buildings on the site and areas of hard surfacing and opportunity to significantly enhance the site with a building of high-quality design set within an attractive landscaped setting,” said planning officers.
“The new building will represent significant new investment in the area and the business which is considered welcome.”
The professional team on the project also includes project manager AA MacFarlane; QS Gardiner & Theobald; Kingdom Ecology; landscape architect Place On Earth; highways engineer Dougal Baillie Associates; services engineer KJ Tait; and Woolgar Hunter as structural engineer.
