Old Goodyear is disappearing

The face of Goodyear in Wolverhampton is beginning to disappear, as landmark buildings which have stood alongside one of the city's main gateways for decades are pulled down.

Demolition work on the sprawling factory site is ploughing forward as part of a £150 million regeneration project.

Old industrial buildings which have stood in the city for years have been pulled down to make way for a new urban community, transforming the face of one of Wolverhampton's most famous sites.

Views of the site behind its prominent gateway off the Stafford Road are disappearing rapidly as demolition takes hold.

Parts of the site are being consigned to the past to make way for more than 600 homes, shops, a school and park.

Experts at Lee Demolition have spent nearly four months bulldozing old buildings on the site and are preparing to start the last phase of their work, which will include demolishing the old boiler house and work around the listed clock tower building. The 1930s-built clock tower is to be preserved and retained in working order as part of the development.

But the iconic blue chimney which towers 150ft over the site will be pulled down around late April.

Peter Rudd, who is the development surveyor at St Modwen, which owns the landmark site, said: "The demolition work is ongoing and that should be complete some time in June. We are going through the detailed planning application stage at the moment to make up the masterplan for the site."

A smaller 18-acre Goodyear factory with 400 workers creating tyre components will be created as part of the development and the 70-year-old Goodyear Sports and Social Club will be revamped.

The huge residential scheme, which could include more than 100 shared ownership and rented homes, could also feature shops, a replacement for Oxley Primary School and community venues, parkland and play outlets.