MIPIM UK 2015: A £15m funding deal has been agreed with an overseas investor to bring forward more than 200,000 sq ft of new, speculative industrial and distribution space at Worcester Six Park, Worcestershire.
The deal marks the first large-scale speculative development in Worcestershire for more than 10 years.
Stoford Developments will announce the news later today at this year’s MIPIM UK event at Olympia, London. Two commercial units, sized at 160,000 sq ft and 45,000 sq ft, will be built, and will be designed for a variety of employment uses including technology, manufacturing, industrial and warehousing.
The announcement gives the £120m business park a further boost after it was announced that work had already started on a £10m infrastructure upgrade.
Funding for the wider upgrade has been granted by the Worcestershire local enterprise partnership through the Growth Deal. Worcestershire county council, working in partnership with Birmingham-based Stoford, has begun a programme of work to provide greater access and improve traffic flow to the Worcester Six site.
Worcester Six will provide a total of up to 1.5m sq ft in a range of units.
Speaking at the MIPIM UK, Stoford director Gerard Ludlow said: “We have reached agreement with an [unnamed] overseas investor to speculatively build two commercial units at Worcester Six. Funding is in place for the £15m deal and we are keen to get started as soon as possible.”
Stoford will submit a reserved matters planning application by the end of November, with a view to starting on site at the end of Q1 2016. The two units are expected to complete by Q3 2016.
The development site has been identified within Worcestershire’s Strategic Economic Plan as one of four key employment sites intended to drive the county’s future economic prosperity.
Strutt & Parker and Harris Lamb are letting agents.
lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
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