The landmark £150 million Bridgwater Gateway business park in Somerset has been officially launched.
The major new office and industrial scheme set in 100 acres near J24 of the M5 motorway in Somerset, was opened by Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, at a breakfast event attended by over 120 people.
Phil Wade, development manager at Bridgwater Gateway, told a packed conference room: “We are ready – that is our key message today
“This official launch marks a significant milestone in the construction of Bridgwater Gateway, which now has all infrastructure and estate roads in place.
“We’re now looking forward to seeing many more milestones being reached, including construction of the first building getting underway, and the first occupiers moving in to this landmark new high-quality business location for Bridgwater and the South West of England.”
Bridgwater Gateway, which has the slogan ‘All About Location’ is the newest business park on the M5 corridor. It has planning consent for high-specification commercial space including prime industrial buildings and Grade A self-contained offices, two hotels, and a range of local facilities.
The UK’s biggest hotel brand, Premier Inn, has already announced it will be opening a 100-bed hotel on one of the prime road frontage plots.
Tim Davies, head of the South West for real estate services company Colliers International, sole agent for the scheme, said considerable interest was being attracted by Bridgwater Gateway, which is located about 12 miles from the Hinkley Point C power station site.
“Every last detail of this scheme has been planned meticulously, and not surprisingly given this and the unrivalled location we are already being contacted by numerous interested parties from across the commercial spectrum,” he said.
Ian Liddell-Grainger said that Bridgwater Gateway was a welcome new addition to Bridgwater, which he described as “an industrial town where there shouldn’t be one”, with an economy which was outperforming the rest of the South West.
“We are a town with attitude. That is what we do. Here are here to get people to come and invest in us, and that is what we try to facilitate,” he said.
“We did it with Hinkley, we have done it around the town. We know how to deliver, and you can see that with Bridgwater Gateway.”
Dr Walter Boettcher, director of research and forecasting at Colliers International, said the growing economic success of Bridgwater, and of Somerset, showed the importance for the ‘real economy’ to the UK, as opposed to the ‘balance sheet economy’.
“There is a lot of economic impetus in Somerset, and Bridgwater Gateway is very much part of this together with, of course, Hinkley Point C.”
The launch of Bridgwater Gateway also featured a display called ‘Bronze Age Bridgwater’, featuring prehistoric archaeology discovered at the site during a four month archaeological excavation undertaken before construction work commenced.