Following the two most recent lettings, occupancy at Central Park in Bridgend has risen to 80%, with pharmaceutical services business, Biotec Services International taking a 15 year lease on 15,000 sq ft and Edmundson Electrical taking almost 7,000 sq ft on a 10 year lease. Cooke & Arkwright and JLL acted on behalf of the landlord, Robert Hitchins in the deals. DTZ acted on behalf of Biotec.
Biotec recently announced an £800,000 investment to fund the additional operational, packaging and storage facility at Central Park which will operate alongside its current facility at the site. Staff numbers have increased from 39 to 53 since January 2012 in preparation for the move into the new facility during the first week of June 2012. The company was established in 1997 and is now a leading global provider of clinical trial services including import, certification, labelling, assembly, storage and distribution. Biotec has experienced a 353% increase in turnover since 2007 with 89% being linked to international trade.
Rachel Griffiths, Technical Director said, “The new facility allows us to expand our temperature controlled storage and packaging capability, ensuring we continue to attract global pharmaceutical companies with our unique service offering, and enabling us to launch into new markets in the Far East and Australia.”
Biotec’s dedicated new storage and operational facilities will be open for business in June 2012. The expansion will result in a 200% increase in temperature controlled storage capacity. The purpose-built split site is fully licenced by the MHRA for investigational, commercial and named patient medicinal products and offers GMP storage with a full temperature range from controlled ambient down to nitrogen storage at -196 degrees C. It also features dedicated storage areas for advanced therapeutic medicinal products and Schedule 11 to V Controlled Substances.
Biotec is joined at Central Park by Edmundson Electrical, which relocated on 10 April from its previous site on Bridgend Industrial Estate. The staff of 11 moved to the new purpose-built premises and an additional person has been employed as part of the expansion. Edmundson now has over 250 branches around the UK and its customer base includes electrical contractors and engineers, industrial companies, local authorities, power generation, utilities, oil, gas and petrochemical sectors, as well as food industries, leisure, retail, air conditioning, heating and ventilation, refrigeration, security and fire prevention.
Mark Jenkins, Branch Manager in Bridgend said, “The move to a more modern premises with a larger trade counter and stores allows us to hold a much wider range of stock; our pallet storage capability has gone from 20 pallets to over 90, which makes a big difference to our project management and to our clients. The location is far better; we are near a number of other service providers, including Plumbase which is sited opposite. The new facility has been well received by our customers and we are planning a big trade open-day within the next couple of months, with more than 30 traders expected to attend. More details will be announced shortly.”
Jeremy Symons of Cooke & Arkwright, letting agents for Central Park said, “Central Park offers a mix of traditional office space and R&D lab space, as well as warehouse and storage areas. It is popular with the bioscience and pharmaceutical sectors and the location of the park, situated half way between Cardiff and Swansea and close to the M4 at junction 35 is a big attraction to occupiers. Coupled with excellent rail and air links, it also provides development opportunities for commercial, industrial and distribution uses. We have a unit of 200,000 sq ft which has become available since Kimball Electronics moved its operation to Poland. The unit is available as a whole or could be divided for multiple use and is suitable for a variety of purposes, from pharmaceuticals through to media.”