Business park extension given green light
A WEST Midlands industrial park is to be expanded by 124 acres after planning chiefs gave the project the green light.
Warwick-based IM Properties has been given planning permission by North Warwickshire Borough Council’s development committee to expand Birch Coppice Business Park near Junction 10 of the M42.
The extension, known as Phase Two, will involve the relocation of a household waste recycling centre and waste transfer station and demolition of a farm house.
The news comes as the company says it is just days away from completing a deal with online grocery and household retailer and delivery firm Ocado to open a new distribution hub on the park covering 35 acres.
As reported earlier this week, Ocado is planning to take a foothold in the Midlands by opening a 350,000 sq ft warehouse hub capable of processing up to 200,000 orders per week.
Sign up for our weekly property news email: just click here
Ocado delivers food, clothes, garden and household goods for companies such as Waitrose which has stores in Lichfield and Harborne, in Birmingham, and its headquarters are in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.
A detailed planning application will be submitted for the Ocado base once negotiations have been completed with IM Properties in a deal which the company said would be worth around £500,000 per acre.
Work on site south east of Tamworth to produce development plateaus would commence within a few weeks, it said, with the Ocado complex due for completion towards the end of 2012.
Birmingham property agent Eagleton and Company acted for IM Properties and Colliers CRE represented Ocado.
Pic: An existing unit on Phase One of Birch Coppice Business Park whose design and landscaping will be used on ‘Phase Two’.
