Portsmouth metal firm hopes to turn 27ft chimney into '˜eco tower'

Excell Metal Spinning in Limberline Road, Hilsea, is home to one of the largest chimneys in Portsmouth.

While looking for ideas to spruce up the chimney tower, director Lee Bligh and marketing executive Curtis Bligh were inspired by the season finale of Planet Earth 2, which saw presenter David Attenborough plead with viewers to build cities that create homes for both wildlife and humans.

Mr Bligh said: ‘We put two and two together and so we began research on how we could produce something using Planet Earth 2 as our inspiration.

‘We picked up on Singapore’s eco buildings and decided we wanted to do something along the lines with the chimney.’

They put the idea on Twitter on the company’s account @ExcellMetalSpin and it’s proved popular with 65 people liking it.

Mr Bligh said they hope to reach 5,000 likes and 5,000 retweets of the post.

‘We encourage people to get involved by simply liking and retweeting this post,’ he said.

‘Upon achieving our goal, we plan to involve the Made in Britain organisation, of which we are members. They promote British-made goods and so we’d like to be able to get them involved.

‘This campaign is more than self-promotion. I believe we can provide a message to all businesses within Portsmouth, as well as those living in Portsmouth, that we can do our part, no matter how small, to make Portsmouth a much greener, better place.’

Excell Metal Spinning – which makes cylindrical metal components that can be used in a wide variety of different industries – was first founded in 2000, by Neil Hunt and Lee Bligh, the current directors.

The company was incorporated at Cherry Tree Industrial Estate, but relocated in 2001 to Limberline Road, Gunners building in order to increase factory space.

In 2014 it increased its factory size to 12,000sq ft, and throughout the years has undertaken project work including the production of the sphere in the World Darts Trophy, as well as producing the finial for the WW2 memorial for Muslim soldiers who fought in the war.

Mr Bligh added: ‘Surveys currently show that Portsmouth is one of the top 20 worst cities to live in as well as suffering pollution problems.

‘I believe this can change, and so we here at Excell plan to change that. Hopefully this will provide a smile on everyone’s faces and get people thinking about how the city looks, especially with recent high rises and accommodation being put up.’