Developers are to deliver 80,000 sq ft of new industrial units at Barnsley’s Capitol Park with the help of £2.20m investment loan from the Sheffield City Region JESSICA Fund.
Carnell Management Services Ltd, which successfully developed and fully let Bullrush Business Park in Doncaster earlier this year, is to start on site to build Nexus at Capitol Park in October.
They will deliver 15 units of varying sizes from 3,000 to 11,800 sq ft in the landscaped £6m scheme which is expected to reach practical completion summer 2019.
The Sheffield office of Knight Frank has been appointed by CMS to market the new scheme aimed at satisfying the much needed demand for small and medium-sized industrial units.
Paul Carnell, from Carnell Management Services Ltd, said: “As costs continue to rise, the SCR JESSICA Fund, which is now looking to support development across the whole of the Sheffield City Region, is focused on helping projects like this, which support the creation and safeguarding of employment.
“The funding has made the speculative development viable but also provided us with a confidence to provide a quality product on this popular site.”
Rebecca Schofield, partner at the Sheffield office of Knight Frank, said: “Our client’s success in Doncaster, and its new optimism in Barnsley, will capitalise on the lack of available small to medium-sized accommodation in the region, through the development of these quality units.
“The units have planning permission for B1, B2 and B8 use and will be built to a very high quality specification.
“Businesses seeking quality industrial space and facilities should look at this park and we anticipate a high level of enquiries.”
The BREEAM “very good” rated units include full height, roller shutter loading access, CCTV, LED lighting to the warehouse, fitted offices and super fast broadband connectivity along with electric car charging points.
Sir Nigel Knowles, Chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership Board, said: “We are delighted to see this project in Barnsley come to fruition and that work on site will begin later this year. We are working hard to ensure that the whole city region is able to grow and prosper. Projects such as this will offer high quality office space to many of our start-up businesses and those that are looking to grow, across the region”.
Recent research has shown Barnsley is now being seen as an important link in the South Yorkshire business network and crucially as a target for growing and expanding companies; with Barnsley based SMEs being ranked as the most productive in the whole of the Y&H region; with higher than national average private sector job growth levels high housing stock growth; high business survival rates, and superfast broadband – all with unparalleled links to east coast, M62, A1, M1 and M18 corridor.
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council launched its Jobs and Business Plan four years ago which has provided real benefits, while Enterprising Barnsley, the economic development arm of Barnsley Council, has helped create more than 4,750 jobs in the borough.
Shaun Higginbottom, at Enterprising Barnsley, said: “Barnsley is attracting its highest level of inward investment in recent years and is ranked within the top 20 destinations outside of London for FDI. Capitol Park is an excellent location for business and we look forward to supporting Carnell and Knight Frank to develop the site and attract occupiers.”
Mike Heydecke, director of Sterling Capitol, the original developers of the 36-acre Capitol Park, commented: “This is an extremely exciting initiative by CMS and a ringing endorsement of the potential of Capitol Park which is now proving to be a popular location for quality businesses.”
The 36-acre Capitol Park, located immediately adjacent to J37 M1 and two miles from Barnsley town centre, has proved hugely successful to date and is home to a mixture of office and industrial occupiers.
Existing occupiers include Finance Yorkshire, Brebur, Mila, Hargreaves Services Plc, Sheffield Children’s Hospital patient retrieval centre, Gem Imports and NHS.
