The Bury-based business, part of the £420m-turnover Crown Oil family of companies, has acquired land in Pilsworth, Bury, to enable it to continue the growth it has experienced during the last 12 months.
The 8.88-acre site will provide the family business with additional space to cater for its expanding sustainable fuels operation. The increased space will enable the business to carry out research and development (R&D) and blend and store alternative fuels.
Office staff including accounts, sales, customer services, marketing and IT will remain at the Heap Bridge head office.
Crown Oil, based on Bury New Road, became the first and only UK fuel supplier to run its entire fleet of tankers and delivery vehicles on hydrotreated vegetable oil in June 2021 as we reported here.
The business was later crowned the winner of the UKIFDA prestigious Green Award for 2021, which recognises those in the liquid fuel industry that are leading the way in sustainability and environmental performance as well as seeing its brand new HVO tanker named ‘Fuel Oil News 2020 Tanker of the Year’.
Investment comes on the back of success with cleaner greener fuels
The business has championed the use of cleaner fuels to customers across sectors including construction, on-road transport, rail, inland waterways and stand-by power, going the extra mile by hosting virtual webinars, offering one-to-one support and creating educational resources to help organisations understand the benefits.
The investment marks the success of Crown Oil’s work to encourage customers to make the switch to greener fuels. As of November 2021, its customers have saved 31,500 tonnes of CO2 from switching to HVO fuel, which is equal to the emissions released from 6,851 passenger cars driven on fossil fuels for a year.
HVO offers a fast and simple step towards net zero without the need for electrification or vehicle modifications, reducing net CO2 emissions by up to 90 per cent and nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 27 per cent.
Managing director Matthew Greensmith said the investment was timely, taking place as the world’s leaders meet to discuss environmental issues at COP26 commenting: “As green measures have never been higher up the agenda, businesses have a responsibility to act now to contribute towards reducing the effects of climate change.
Crown Oil has taken this responsibility seriously, encouraging customers to make the change to HVO, while setting the example ourselves.
“As a result, we have found demand for greener, cleaner alternative fuels increasing, which has led to a need to expand our current operations into a new site. Our Pilsworth site will enable us to serve an even greater number of customers and carry out more research and development into alternative products.
“We look forward to opening this additional site and continuing the work that resulted in our Green Award earlier this year.”
As part of its green efforts, the business has also pledged to run all of its buildings on renewable energy by 2023 and you can read more about the efforts of Crown Oil to transition to a greener future here.