A major Burton business complex could be bulldozed to make way for new homes in a £3 million deal, it has been revealed.
Subject to planning approval, The Imex Business Park, in Shobnall Road, will be demolished and the site used to build 140 homes.
The complex is empty after firms were forced to move after being served with notices to leave by the owners of the park last year.
One company claims it had to spend £30,000 moving to new smaller premises, including the cost of moving its machinery.
It has now emerged that the eight-acre business park, containing seven industrial and office buildings, has been sold by the owners Hansteen Holdings PLC to the Government agency Homes and Communities Agency.
The agency is responsible for providing new affordable housing in England. It has also taken on the former Burton Magistrates' Court in the town, which was controversially shut in September, 2016.
A spokesman for the agency said the Imex site will make way for "much needed" local homes.
The Burton Mail revealed in October, last year, that around 50 companies opened letters serving them notice to vacate the Imex Business Park by October 6.
Hansteen Holdings then shut down the Shobnall Road site after decades of leasing to Burton companies.
Hansteen chiefs said the "run-down" estate had become "economically unviable" as half its units were vacant.
Malcolm Hull, who ran Industrial Cranes and Parts from the Imex for 17 years, spoke to the Burton Mail at the time, claiming then that the eviction would cost him tens of thousands of pounds.
Today, he said: "The eviction cost me about £30,000 and we are still on overtime to make up the loss and it's February now.
"It costs so much because we had to move everything – the structures, the cranes, welding bays and the mezzanine flooring, which we then had to rebuild. We also lost one apprentice."
His firm has moved to a smaller unit at Steelfabs Industrial Estate, in Victoria Crescent, Burton, and, as a result, had to scrap a large amount of machinery.
The Homes and Communities Agency has now submitted an application to East Staffordshire Borough Council for permission to demolish five warehouses and buildings at the Imex.
This will leave the main building Burton House, which fronts the site, which will be subject to similar demolition application in the next few months, said an agency spokesman.
A spokesman said: "We have submitted an application for a partial demolition of the Imex site to make way for much needed local homes.
The current application is only for part of the site because we need to undertake ecological surveys on the rest which can only be started in April.
"Assuming that the surveys do not highlight any issues, we will be submitting an application to demolish the rest of the site (including Burton House). This will then provide a site for approximately 140 new homes."
It was later confirmed that the cost of buying the site was around £3 million and it is now empty, with many businesses re-locating locally.
The original buildings on the site were once part of Ind Coope and Allsopp's Maltings bottling plant and were called Malthouses.
Of late they have been known as Burton House, and dates from before 1880, however the building has been extensively modified since, notably in the 1950s.
The buildings to be demolished in the first phase are set to be 1950s concrete and steel framed building; a 1980s steel framed building; the 1950s warehouse in the north-east corner; a 1950s single storey steel framed building; and a 1970s brick constructed building with pitched asbestos cement sheet roof which occupies the site at the Curzon Street entrance adjacent. Opposite this building is the 1950s weigh bridge building which will remain.
It is anticipated that demolition works will begin in March subject to planning approval from the borough council.
In its application, the agency says: "The application site is allocated for a range of uses, including residential within the draft Shobnall Neighbourhood Plan."
To facilitate the redevelopment of the site and to ensure the substantially vacant site is not left to deteriorate and undermine the environment of the site and its surrounding area.
Previous owners Hansteen told the Burton Mail the site was 50 per cent vacant and very old, and had become economically unviable costing more money to run than the firm was receiving in rents.
It also said it had been unable to rent out the units.
The history of Imex
Like many buildings in Burton, the Imex Business Park is connected to the town's world famous brewing industry.
It was once the Ind Coope and Allsopp's Maltings, which were converted into bottling stores in 1947 and officially opening the following year.
Through the late 1930s it was noted that the former bottling store was no longer able to cope with demand for bottle beer.
In 1940 the first plans were drawn up for new bottling stores. It was put on hold during the Second World War, with working beginning at the end of the war in 1945.
The initial cost was £262,350 and included seven bottling units
It officially opened in 1948, closing in 1987 and opened as the Imex Business Park in 1991.
