Yeargate relaunches Birch Industrial Park
A MULTI-phase redevelopment of the 37-acre Birch Industrial Park near Heywood is underway.
The park’s owner, Yeargate, has already begun with the £1.7m first phase of the development, which will see the entrance remodelled, a gatehouse rebuilt and a new speculative unit developed. It should complete by spring next year.
Director Bill Ullathorne told TheBusinessDesk.com that the park, which was initially used as a munitions site during the second world war, has enjoyed high levels of occupancy since it was bought by Yeargate in 1996 but argued that some of the units were now out of date, and that part of the park needed to be reconfigured.
The park is close to SEGRO’s Heywood Distribution Park, and to motorway junctions for the M62, M60 and M66.
“A lot of the buildings are original, such as the gatehouse and the officers mess,” Ullathorne said. “They were built to withstand attack. The walls are thick concrete.
“They did a good job in the day but the eaves heights means they’re not suitable for modern industrial use.”
The first phase of Yeargate’s remodelling includes a remodelling of the entrance, replacement of the gatehouse and construction of a new 21,500 sq ft unit with a 1,500 sq ft mezzanine floor and external service yard. This is being built on the site of a demolished 4,000 sq ft unit, and access roads around the units are being remodelled.
A design brief has also been drawn up by architects Fletcher Rae laying out a plan for a remodelling of the southern end of the site over the next five-to-ten years. Once the lease on an 8,000 sq ft unit expires next year, the company plans an extension to provide either a single, 16,000 sq ft unit or two units of 8,000 sq ft each.
Yeargate is also in talks with occupiers who have shown interest in a potential building of 100,000-150,000 sq ft, which has been earmarked to replace an existing unit on the site of around 40,000 sq ft. It would be offered for a rent of around £5.50 per sq ft.
Ullathorne said that such a unit would probably need to be a design & build option for a specific tenant.
“If you’re looking at something of that size you don’t want to do it speculatively,” he added.
