Borough’s business parks booming

Photo: Google, DigitalGlobe

JD Sports, Michael Faraday Avenue, Rochdale

Business parks across the Borough are booming, Wednesday’s (12 July) Council meeting was told.

Construction of the extension to the JD Sports Distribution Centre at Kingsway continues at pace with a good proportion of the structural steelwork now in place. The building work is expected to be completed in early 2018 and operational some six months later.

When completed, this will provide another 200 jobs, available for Rochdale residents, taking the total jobs to 1,700, and increasing to over 2,000 at peak periods.

The Council Leader added in his report: “I recently attended the April meeting of the Kingsway Partnership. This was an excellent opportunity to meet with representatives of the other partners (Wilson Bowden Developments, the Homes and Communities Agency and Rochdale Development Agency) and to talk about the challenges facing Kingsway in the forthcoming years. We all have a shared agenda of trying to secure further deals which will bring new jobs to Rochdale.”

The recently refurbished Howard Tenens unit (the former Wincanton Unit) at Stakehill Distribution Park is now almost completely let. Tenens held a launch event in April and is hopeful of attracting occupiers for the remainder of the floorspace in the near future.

Internal signage was upgraded last year across the business park, with an impressive gateway ‘totem signage’ into the estate due for installation in June at the Whitbrook Way entrance.

Around 40% of the industrial units at Stakehill Industrial Estate are managed by CEG, on behalf of institutional funders.

In May 2017, the CEG portfolio was put on the market with the expectation of reaching above the asking price. The reasons cited for the sale include a high level of demand for quality units, vacancy rates being low, and the quality of the premises at the distribution park.

Rochdale Council and Rochdale Development Agency will seek an early meeting with the new owners when the sale has been completed. Occupancy rates at the estate are currently at around 75%, with strong interest in the former Aldi units.

Heywood Distribution Park is currently close to 90% occupancy.

Work was completed last year on two new units, one and the other 67,000 sq ft. Moran Logistics has signed a lease for the new 67,000 sq ft unit to create an additional north west hub, and the larger 145,000 sq ft unit appears to be under offer.

There is also interest in the last remaining plot, with a local company close to agreeing a deal to relocate to a new 250,000 sq ft facility, resulting in increased job numbers and further growth.

The planning application for the link road between Junction 19 of the M62 and Heywood Distribution Park, plus the associated housing and employment space is still undergoing consideration by officers of the Council.

It is likely that this application will be presented to the Planning Committee in early autumn.