Essar to buy Thornton Science Park from Chester Uni

Essar

ESSAR is buying Thornton Science Park from the University of Chester as part of plans to create an energy transition hub in Northwest England.

The 66-acre science park hosts industrial research facilities and laboratories and is home to more than a dozen businesses including engineering firms GHD, HyNet, and Spiro Control. Essar says it expects the deal will be finalised by the autumn for an “undisclosed fee”.

The purchase is being made by group subsidiary Essar Energy Transition (EET) which plans to invest US$3bn on low carbon energy transition projects over the next five years in Northwest England.

It says the site will become the headquarters for various EET businesses including EET Fuels, which operates the neighbouring 10m t/y Stanlow refinery, and EET Hydrogen, which plans to build a blue hydrogen production facility at Stanlow.

The hydrogen production facility will sit at the heart of the region’s planned HyNet CCS cluster, where natural gas will be reformed into hydrogen for use at the refinery and other regional manufacturers including Tata Chemicals and Pilkington glassmakers. Meanwhile, the CO2 will be piped for storage in gas fields under the sea in Liverpool Bay.

Deepak Maheshwari, CEO of EET Fuels, said: “The acquisition of Thornton Science Park represents the latest step in our ambition to develop Europe’s foremost integrated energy transition hub.”

He added that it will bolster energy security and maintain a workforce for fuels production.

Thornton Science Park site was home to the Shell Technology Centre which developed new fuel and oil products until the oil major announced its closure in 2012. The university took over and installed its faculty of science and engineering there but was forced to move out after a public inquiry in 2019 was told that a very serious accident at the neighbouring refinery could kill many of the students.

The university had not obtained planning permission to change the use of the site. It said it has been reassured that changes were not needed but ultimately it failed to convince the local council to let the faculty stay. Engineering students are now based at Exton Park close to Chester city centre.