- Cadent invests £360,000 in its Crewe depot, a site that dates to 1864
- £650,000 project also gets under way to create a new depot in Stockport
- Gas network invests for the future, as ‘net zero’ push gathers pace
Local gas network Cadent has completed a major upgrade of one of its oldest depots (in Crewe) as work gets under way on creating its newest (in Stockport).
Together, the projects represent £1million investment by Cadent, which manages North West England’s 21,000-mile piped gas distribution system. Cadent is also a major force behind moves to replace fossil gas with hydrogen, as the UK looks for carbon-neutral ways to meet its energy needs and achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050.
Its depot in Crewe (pictured above), off Stewart Street, is the base for the Cadent engineers who cover the middle and southern regions of Cheshire. This has been a gas site since 1864, when a gas works was built to provide fuel for local steel manufacturing.
More than £360,000 has been invested here to create new office and welfare facilities, upgrade security systems and improve the environmental aspect of the depot, which includes the installation of new charge points for electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, 50 miles away in Stockport, £650,000 is being invested to create a new office space and logistics hub, after Cadent agreed a 10-year lease on a 26,600sq ft facility on Corrie Way, Bredbury Industrial Estate. This work started in January.
The new ‘Corrie Way’ depot (pictured above) will be home to engineers who cover an area to the south of Manchester. It will also house a logistics function and provide space for specialist olfactory (the sense of smell) and rhinology work that Cadent delivers.
This site will also have EV charge points, helping Cadent further along its journey to switch its field-force vehicles to carbon neutral fuels by 2026. Cadent bases in Grimsby, Burton-on-Trent and Ipswich also had EV points installed in January, with Chesterfield and Hitchin scheduled for February. More are in the pipeline.
“The gas industry has a long and proud history in the UK, dating back over 200 years, and we’ve got a long future ahead of us,” said Jenny Moten, Director of Cadent’s North West network. “Our job is to manage the safe distribution of gas to millions of sites, as well as provide a 24-hour, 365-day, gas emergency service.
“I have a great team that deserves great facilities to work, based in the communities we serve, so I’m delighted this major investment has been completed in Crewe and that work has now started in Corrie Way. We have further, equally-exciting plans to unveil for several of our other North West depots over the coming months.”
Cadent operates four of the UK’s eight gas distribution networks. As well as North West England, it manages the networks for the West Midlands, Eastern England and North London.
Its North West network stretches from the Lake District to Crewe and is home to 21,000 miles of distribution pipes (most of them underground) and hundreds of above ground installations. Crewe and Stockport are among 15 North West depots.
More than 83 per cent of North West households are heated by gas.
Backed by Cadent and many partners, the North West region is set to lead the way in a major shift from fossil gases to hydrogen. Producing only heat and water at point of use, hydrogen is key to the UK’s net zero future and is set to be introduced at volume in the North West during the 2020s (see
www.hynet.co.uk).