Sanofi extension approved; Crewe waits for UTC
Pharmaceutical company Sanofi’s redevelopment plans for its site in Holmes Chapel have been approved by Cheshire East Council, which will see extensions built on several of its buildings to allow for an increase in staff numbers.
The council signed off the scheme at its Southern planning committee meeting on Wednesday 25 November. Sanofi proposed extensions to manufacturing, warehouse and laboratory buildings, the relocation of service buildings, and the construction of a 30,000 sq ft reception area and office.
There are currently more than 300 staff based in the Holmes Chapel campus. The company’s masterplan for the complex also includes changes to staff parking and roads around the site.
Sanofi was advised by HOW Planning.
On Wednesday’s meeting council was due to approve the development of the £11m Crewe Engineering & Design University Technical College, but the decision was delegated to the head of planning.
Cheshire East’s head of planning is due to approve the development of Crewe UTC
Designed by IBI Group, the facility will be built on the site of the former Victoria Community High School on West Street.
The 3.2 acre site is made up of three buildings constructed in the 1980s. The development will see the demolition of former school buildings Newdigate and Meredith Buildings to make way for a three-storey 40,000 sq ft educational building, and the refurbishment of the Oakley Building.
The UTC, due to open in September 2016, is a partnership between Cheshire East Council, Bentley Motors, Manchester Metropolitan University, Siemens, Bosch, OSL Rail, Jacobs Engineering, Chevron Racing, Optical 3D and South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, council officers refused the development of 40 homes on a greenfield site at Yew Tree Farm, near Alsager, against the recommendation of planning officers. The development by Muller Strategic Projects is next to a site which was granted planning permission on appeal for 74 homes earlier this year. The council said the scheme would have “a severe impact upon the local highway network heading towards Alsager town centre”.
At the same planning meeting Cheshire East granted reserved matters consent to 110 homes by Persimmon Homes at Crewe Road, also near Alsager.
