For decades the Spotswood Terminal, on the south side of the western end of the soaring West Gate Bridge, was Mobil’s main storage terminal.

Its visibility to many thousands of commuters  crossing the 2.5 kilometre bridge was a reminder of the inner west’s fast-changing industrial past.

The company has since concentrated its storage and handling on a site of similar size site north of the bridge, in Yarraville’s Francis Street, Mobil’s Jessica Bodon said.

Mobil engaged petrochemical demolition experts McMahon Services last year.

The company razed the above-ground petro-chemical infrastructure earlier this year and removed piping, storage tanks, warehouses and office buildings from the site.

‘‘Mobil is executing a comprehensive remediation plan for the site that will render it suitable for future industrial use. These remediation works will take a number of years to complete,’’ Ms Bodon said.

Mobil was working with Hobsons Bay City Council, WorkSafe Victoria and the Victorian Environment Protection Authority to make sure work was ‘‘completed safely’’ with ‘‘minimal impact’’ on the public and environment, she said.

Hobson Bay councillor Paul Morgan said the industrial landscape of the inner west was changing rapidly.

Several large factories in the same pocket south of the bridge were scaling back operations.

One organisation in the locality that has been immune to change was the Scienceworks Museum which had expanded its car parking onto a former industrial site opposite.

Victoria’s transport authority, VicRoads, has been linked to Mobil's former terminal site amid speculation it has taken an interest because of the need to increase traffic on the West Gate Bridge.

But VicRoads said it had not purchased land at the former terminal.

VicRoads has slowly been acquiring residential and commercial property along Francis Street, according to local residents.

"We have no immediate plans for the properties purchased on Hyde and Francis streets," VicRoads said.

Several other large remediation projects are underway in Melbourne as population growth encourages developers and governments to reuse industrial sites.

Chemicals heavyweight Orica may reap a bonanza from the recent rezoning of 72 hectares of industrial land it owns in Deer Park.

Its site, bordered by the Western Ring, Ballarat, Station and Tilburn roads, will be a magnet for big-box retailers or large supermarkets but will need multimillion-dollar remediation before it can be put to other uses.

In nearby Maribyrnong, another contaminated site once used by the Department of Defence has been in limbo since a 2009 announcement it would be redeveloped for 3000 dwellings.

Defence’s three to five-year land rehabilitation process for the 128-hectare site has stalled.

But work look likely to proceed on another large site, the former Amcor paper mill, in Fairfield, after plans were approved.