Leading farm nutrient supplier Ballance Agri-Nutrients is about four weeks ahead of schedule with the deconstruction of its landmark Port Road plant in Whangarei. Dismantling started in January and is set to be complete by late July.
A second stage of demolition will take place once the company has secured its new site in Whangarei. Site remediation will take place after that.
The company is investing in its Northland presence over the next four years to improve services to Northland farmers and growers. The four-phase project includes the deconstruction and remediation of its entire Port Road plant, the sale of another property and the opening of two new centres; one in Whangarei and the other in Marsden Point.
Ballance expects to be able to announce details about the location of its new site at Marsden Point shortly. It will lease buildings from a developer. It hopes to secure the location of its new Whangarei site by late 2019.
Mark Adams, Ballance’s Northland project lead, said the deconstruction work had been complex. Ensuring environmentally-sound disposal of deteriorating building materials, including asbestos, had been key.
He said 95 percent of the asbestos on the site had now been removed and dealt with appropriately by the expert contractors appointed for this work.
Ballance will use its yet-to-be-built Whangarei site for product bagging and distribution to customers with good access to Whangarei. The Marsden Point site will become a bulk storage and transitional facility for product coming directly from Northport, and a customer service centre.
