Greater Manchester property business George Moss & Sons Ltd which celebrated its centenary in 2020 has pledged support for commercial tenants struggling with energy bills by investing £500k in new solar panel installations.
The family business owns and manages 620,000 sq.ft. of prime industrial property on the Moss Industrial Estate on St. Helen’s Road in Leigh which is home to over 100 local businesses of varying sizes and industries.
George Moss & Sons has already pledged to make the industrial estate carbon neutral through a range of sustainability initiatives, and, over the last year, has refurbished many of its older units and fitted them with solar panels.
Through the new investment, the business will accelerate its sustainability agenda by expanding the installation of solar panels across the industrial estate in order to support tenants with lower energy costs, protect them from rising energy prices, and ensure their growth and sustainability for the long term.
During its centenary celebratiions in 2020, the company released a special video which featured local people who worked for the business back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, at a time when it built many of the town’s local landmarks. Since 1920, the business has passed down through the generations to the current owner, Sebastian Moss, the great great grandson of founder, George Moss.
In 2021, Sebastian Moss appointed Neill Wood as managing director to drive the growth and sustainability of Moss Industrial Estate and to share the strategic and operational leadership of the business as it enters its second century.
Neill Wood, managing director of Moss Industrial Estate, says: “With costs spiralling, many small businesses are feeling the pinch and are very concerned about the future of the economy. As a business which has a history of supporting its tenants with their own growth and success, we are accelerating our sustainability plans in order to help our tenants with the rising cost of energy.
“This investment will enable us to install solar panels on around 40 per cent of our industrial units by the end of 2023. This is an investment that is worth making now to reduce costs in the long term and will enable our tenants to generate enough electricity to run their businesses, reduce their use of fossils fuels and protect them from future price rises in the energy market.”