A home for endangered species and renewable energy 

On the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, Peel Environmental is building a facility to transform waste into energy. Once completed, Ince Park will be the largest resource recovery facility in the UK and capable of supplying renewable electricity to almost 40,000 homes. The cluster of environmental technology industries, including biomass renewable energy plant, energy-from-waste and timber facilities, will reside on 134 ha of reclaimed marshland and use the energy produced on-site. RSK provided extensive landscape consultancy to integrate the development into its surrounding landscape.

Regional RSK specialists assessed a broad range of factors to provide a landscape design that mitigated the visual intrusion of the scheme on the surrounding area, including using native woodland to screen the site from neighbouring residential areas.

Not only will the completed facility recycle waste into energy and seamlessly blend into the landscape, but it will also provide a home for endangered and at-risk species. Designed to produce numerous habitats, including open drains for endangered water voles and shallow scrapes for wetland wildlife and birds, the site already boasts rich biodiversity. Ince Park’s wildflower meadows, hedgerows and native woodland, including Britain’s most endangered tree, the black poplar, contribute to minimising the cumulative visual impact of the site.