Parcels delivery giant Tuffnells Parcel Express has signed terms to occupy an entire office block at Sheffield’s Meadowhall Business Park for its South Yorkshire office headquarters.
The move will see Tuffnells leave its current Shepcote Lane base to run a dedicated 15,000 sq ft operational office at ARBA Group’s Meadowhall Business Park, which is undergoing a multi-million GBP refurbishment programme to convert five former council buildings into top specification office units.
Tuffnells will move into Block 1 of the 70,000 sq ft park, joining existing tenants, NG Bailey, Alpharooms, Auburn Ainsley, Galaxy Insulation and Dry Lining (Holdings) Ltd, North Midlands Construction Plc, Chique Photography and Eaton Commercial Property Consultants Ltd and Preventx Ltd.
Chris Ward, MD of Tuffnells Parcels Express, said: “It’s always good to give hardworking employees great news, and it’s safe to say that the employees at Tuffnells’ Head Office are thrilled with the news of the new premises.
“We’ve spent a lot of time looking at how we can work together to make the space conducive to our culture of innovation whilst keeping the ‘family feel’ of the business. We’re aiming to create state of the art meeting rooms, break-out areas and lots of bright, airy spaces.
“The location of Meadowhall Business Park is perfect for us and with the level of development taking place at Meadowhall, it is going to be a vibrant working environment for the team, with great eating and relaxation facilities on the doorstep.”
Tuffnells has recruited Knight Frank’s building services team to advise on the fit-out at its new headquarters, which takes up both floors of Block 1 on the five-block site, jointly marketed by the Sheffield office of Knight Frank and Campbell & Co.
Richard Burns, director at ARBA Group, said: “Tuffnells taking all 15,000 sq ft of Block 1 marks the largest single letting to date at Meadowhall Business Park and we see this as a great testament to the park’s USP’s which have made it such a success.
“The key factor all our tenants have cited is the location, as it offers all of the benefits of city-centre office space, without the associated costs.
“We have set out to create a high standard of finish to these units and the refurbishment of remaining parts of the site moves on at pace, so we are very optimistic that we will fill the site completely in due course.”
ARBA Group has already let 60 per cent of the site since January, with Blocks one, three and five now fully let. Tuffnells anticipated move into Meadowhall Business Park is scheduled to take place in September 2017.
Richard Wright, executive director at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, said: “The confirmation of Tuffnells taking a block at Meadowhall Business Park is a great coup for the city. The overall levels of development at Meadowhall have created a section of the Sheffield City Region which offers a real alternative commercial centre in its own right.”
Meadowhall Business Park is located less than one mile from junction 34 of the M1, two miles west of Junction 33 of the M1 and within six and twenty-five miles of the M1/M18 intersection and the M1/M62 intersection respectively.
Developments at Meadowhall include the construction of a new 370,000 sq ft IKEA superstore – due to open end of summer 2017, the £300 million expansion of Meadowhall Shopping Centre and the completion of new supercar showrooms for Porsche and Mercedez Benz.
New tenant Tuffnells Parcels Express is part of Connect Group, which boasts more shipments a year than the population of Australia, a new European service and a range of investments across the business, to make it a growing presence in the B2B market.
