A STAIRLIFT manufacturer has expanded its Black Country offices for a fifth time.
Handicare has taken on a 21,495 sq ft industrial unit with offices at the Pensnett Estate, in Kingswinford, and now occupies a total of 81,794 sq ft across five separate units.
The company was founded as Minivator on the estate in 2001 and has seen its workforce grow from 53 to 205 at the site, with further recruitment currently ongoing.
Minivator Group became part of Handicare earlier this year and has since expanded its range of motility aids.
Chief executive Mike Lord said: “We needed more space to accommodate our growing business, both for our manufacturing side and office space for our customer service team.”
Margaret Hopkins, marketing director for London and Cambridge Property which owns the estate, added: “Handicare continues to go from strength to strength and we are happy we have again met their requirements for expansion.”
In other lettings news, North East Worcestershire College has acquired Osprey House in Redditch, which contains 31,200 sq ft of space, for just under £3m.
The deal was led by the Birmingham-based commercial team of property consultants King Sturge which said the deal was more than twice the size of any concluded in the M42 corridor this year.
The property was owned by Wichford plc which was represented by KWB.
And real estate services company Colliers International has expanded its Birmingham office for the second time since moving in last year.
Colliers took 5,600 sq ft on the 12th floor of Eleven Brindleyplace in August 2009 and expanded this by 1,100 sq ft in April.
The company, which was previously based in Church Street, central Birmingham, has now exercised a lease option and taken the entire 8,645 sq ft floor, due in part to the Midlands office rising from 60 to 80 staff.
