Plans for major development to take over entire Angus street and create 50 jobs

An ambitious company has submitted plans to take over an entire street in Angus and create 50 jobs.

Historic shipping firm J R Rix & Sons hopes it will be full steam ahead for a major development for its renewables division in Montrose.

It intends to partially knock down a listed building on a site runs the length of America Street for the plans to form a new operations and maintenance base.

Rix said the £1.5m investment would deliver a significant economic boost to Montrose.

The company is looking to make use of a quayside site that was constructed in the mid-19th century and the property of Joseph Johnston Salmon Fishers until 1978.

Rix insists it would not be economically viable to try to repair and reuse the whole building, which has been empty for the past 22 years.

Instead it intends to keep the Category C listed building’s facade and construct a two-storey steel structure behind the existing frontage.

The quayside section of the existing building would be demolished to give access to the modern building. It also intends to form an on-site car park.

James Doyle, managing director of Rix Shipping, said the development would follow more than £6m of investments made by the company in Montrose in the past five years.

He said: “There are some significant opportunities for the offshore wind sector off the east coast of Scotland and we believe Montrose is perfectly situated to realise those.

“As a result, we’re investing £1.5m in creating a first-class operations and maintenance base for Rix Renewables – our business that serves this sector – as well as other companies in the offshore industry.

“The development, which has the potential to create up to 50 local jobs, is part of J.R. Rix & Sons’ ongoing commitment to Montrose.

“We’re delighted to be expanding our operations in the town and look forward to the development achieving planning consent.”

Rix, which started as shop owners in the 1870s, currently provide a variety of cargo loading and warehousing services in Montrose.

Last year it invested £1.5m to create a 30,000 sq ft warehouse on Barrack Road.

The planning application adds: “This site has been highlighted as a prime development site in the Montrose Port for economic growth, and the economic benefit of this potential development outweigh the strong presumption of retaining the whole building.

“Retaining the facade allows an important piece of Montrose Port heritage to be retained whilst also providing modern work facilities and a large economic boost to the town.”

In 2015, Rix spent £1m replacing a run-down building in Meridian Street to develop a modern bulk storage facility and a year later invested £1.6m in creating a 42,000 sq ft cereals and commodities warehouse.

In 2018, the company brought the biggest materials handler on the east coast of Scotland – a German-made Liebherr LH110 – an investment of £1m.

Rix Shipping (Scotland) Ltd, part of Yorkshire-based company J.R. Rix and Sons Ltd, first began operating in the town in the 1950s when it transported lime from quarries in Yorkshire to Montrose for use in Scottish agriculture.

The firm’s renewables division specialises in providing services to the offshore wind industry, including supplying technicians, crew transfer vehicles and engineers.

The Port of Montrose has been selected for the operations and maintenance base for the £3 billion Seagreen offshore wind farm project. Plans for the base were finalised last week.