Site regeneration

The

(emda) and

have signed a £4.65m contract to aid the regeneration programme at Laing’s Steetley industrial site.

A remediation project is being conducted at the former site of the Baker Refactory Works in preparation for Laing O’Rourke’s pre-cast concrete manufacturing plant. The new facility will manufacture concrete construction products to be used on Laing O’Rourke projects throughout the UK.

The site is expected to create around 270 jobs, many of which will be in the manufacturing industry. Construction will take around 14 months and the facility will be operational in the second quarter of 2009.

A second stage will see Laing O’Rourke purchase the Steetley Colliery site from emda. The scheme is hoped to bring the derelict site back into use.

Jeff Moore, chief executive at emda, said: ‘We look forward to working with English Partnerships and Laing O’Rourke to make this exciting scheme a success. It will bring jobs and wealth to the area, contributing to our vision of making the East Midlands a flourishing region.’

John Moran, local director at Laing O’Rourke, added: 'This is an opportunity for real and lasting economic regeneration in an area that would clearly benefit from the scale of investment proposed. We look forward to maintaining the pace of transformation and enabling regeneration in an area crying out for the economic stimulus this project brings.’