Water voles, amphibians, bats, badgers, and breeding birds of prey may not be expected in a central industrial hub, but these animals have found a home at the Nissan Sunderland Plant thanks to a rewilding project designed to enhance biodiversity.
Andy Barker, the plant’s engineering manager, explained that the project transformed an uninhabited marshland into a thriving wildlife habitat. He emphasized their commitment to sustainability, noting that this area has become a key focus of their environmental initiatives.
The year-long rewilding effort, carried out by the engineering team in partnership with Atrato Partners Ltd, involved removing invasive shrubs, revitalizing the habitat, and building a viewing hide. The area now attracts various wildlife, including owls, bats, gulls, buzzards, and even deer. A range of flora, such as bee orchids and garden lupin, has also started to thrive.
With its wind and solar farms, the Nissan Sunderland Plant now generates 20% of its electricity from renewable sources. The EV36Zero blueprint aims to turn the plant into a leading electric vehicle hub, emphasizing Nissan’s global Ambition 2030 strategy to achieve carbon neutrality across its products by 2050.
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