McPhillips Starts Work on £13.5m Wolverhampton Fleet Depot to Free Up Land for Hundreds of Homes

Work is underway to develop a new £13.5m fleet depot for City of Wolverhampton Council – a project that will pave the way for hundreds of new homes in the city.

McPhillips was appointed as the principal contractor for the multi-million pound scheme earlier this year and following demolition, ground improvement and drainage work is underway at the Hickman Avenue site.

Once complete, the company will start the main construction work on a new fleet services workshop with the city’s taxi licencing operation also moving to the site.

The new facilities will allow existing depots at Culwell Street and the former Loxdale Primary School site to be vacated – paving the way for hundreds of new homes across Wolverhampton.

The new Hickman Avenue depot will also help the council run a cleaner and greener fleet, and director Andrew Dunham said: “It’s great to be on site at Hickman Avenue and we’re proud City of Wolverhampton Council has chosen McPhillips to deliver this scheme.

“Once this facility is built, the council can move its services across and get on with building new homes on the land they leave behind. That means more homes, more construction work and more jobs for local businesses and local people. The building itself will also help the council run a cleaner and more sustainable fleet.

“This is the kind of public sector work we want to be doing. We look forward to working closely with the council and its staff to deliver a facility that serves Wolverhampton for many years to come.”

The scheme is set to be completed in 2027 – with the council then moving to demolish their Culwell Street depot with the brownfield site to be remediated.

Councillor Qaiser Azeem, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for Resident Services, said: “It is great to have broken ground on this critical scheme for the city. The new purpose built depot will enable the relocation of important council services to a more suitable base.

“The Hickman Avenue redevelopment will ultimately ensure the sustainability of essential frontline services by consolidating, rationalising and optimising our operations. It will lead to reduced energy costs and asset maintenance and support the transition of the council’s combustion engine fleet to EV.

“As well as rationalising the council’s estate, this is also a critical step in bringing forward the regeneration of a strategically important brownfield site through the Brewers Yard scheme to deliver huge benefits in terms of jobs, investment and homes that will help rejuvenate our city centre.”