A STATE-of-the-art new council recycling centre in Southampton is set to open by Christmas after builders handed over the keys.

Around 380 council staff will begin moving into the new £14m City Depot on the west of the city at Dock Gate 20 on Monday.

The council says its new tip will be more convenient for residents with more recycling bays, parking spaces and a longer queuing lane for traffic inside the four acre site.

The council depot and rubbish recycling park will replace the existing Town Depot in Endle Street by the Itchen Bridge, which will be sold for redevelopment.

The new City Depot will be home to the council’s waste and transport operations as well as emergency planners and port health officials.

Staff will be based in a new three storey office block built alongside a fleet workshop for the 37 rubbish trucks and 38 council vehicles that will park up overnight.

A bed of 250 solar panel cells have been laid on the roof of the offices, which will provide up to 15 per cent of the electricity for the site.

And a 50,000-litre tank will collect rainwater for washing vehicles.

The depot also has a larger barn to store salt to grit the roads during the winter.

Council officials and civic dignitaries attended a ceremony to mark the occasion following the completion of the 45-week project by Mansell Construction on time and on budget.

Location of City Depot