A state-of-the-art new office complex for 250 staff is being planned at an Ellesmere Port chemical facility.

Innospec Manufacturing wants to flatten its existing three-storey administration building and build a two-storey facility in its place. Existing staff would work from another part of the building while demolition and construction work is underway.

Innospec is a global speciality chemicals company and a major employer in Cheshire. The site on Oil Sites Road is situated in the Innospec Manufacturing Park area of Stanlow Refinery and surrounded by other industrial and commercial sites, with the nearest residential properties being around 700m away.

The firm said its existing admin building is in 'increasingly poor' condition and wants to build a new complex to base its existing employees.

The proposed office space.The proposed office space. (Image: CWAC/Planning docs)

The application stated: "The existing office building has evolved over time and is sprawling, occupying a large footprint within the site area. It is proposed to reduce the footprint and overall scale of the building."

It added: "The new build administration building will be positioned partially where the previous building stood, and the area freed up from development will be re-landscaped post demolition."

It said 250 members of Innospec administrative staff were currently based at the current building and that by completing the demolition work over two phases, operations would be able to continue in the west ‘wing’ of the current facility until the new build was complete.

The application added that the new building would create a new 'environmentally sustainable' office premises that would be 'conducive to the needs of existing employees', whilst creating an 'improved environment to stimulate innovation and maintain continued employment use at the Innospec facility'.

It added: "The current layout and age of the existing administration building has impacted upon working environments and the provision of suitable modern facilities. Therefore, the proposed building aims to provide high quality, sustainable working environments that support staff welfare."

The plans can be viewed on Cheshire West and Chester's planning portal under the following reference number: 24/03228/FUL