Eshton gets £50m Burnley Bridge scheme underway
ESHTON will start work in March on a bridge across the Leeds-Liverpool Canal which will link its £50m Burnley Bridge Business Park directly to the M65 motorway.
The Yorkshire-based developer received a European Regional Development Fund Grant of £3.85m at the end of 2011 to build the bridge, which will provide a physical link into the heart of the development and should make attracting potential tenants much easier. Once complete, the developer estimates that the £50M park could bring around 1,400 new jobs to the area.
Eshton’s managing director James Chapman said: “This is absolutely tremendous news for the Burnley region. These are challenging economic times for the commercial property market, and it gives Eshton great pleasure to be able to develop this crucial strategic site and to create a significant number of jobs in the East Lancashire area.
“The ERDF grant gives us the green light. We can now start work in earnest at Burnley Bridge and attract quality occupiers to a quality site.”
The firm has now completed the final phase of its demolition and site clearance works ahead of the bridge building. Mr Chapman said the firm was in advanced talks with a number of potential tenants for the scheme, which has planning approval in place for up to 650,000 sq ft of industrial space.
“Inquiries have been for space from 5,000 sq ft to 500,000 sq ft,” said Mr Chapman. “As well as design-and-build pre-lets, we are undertaking a speculative phase of industrial units from 5,000 sq ft to 15,000 sq ft next year”.
Cllr Charlie Briggs, Leader of Burnley Council, said: “This is fantastic news and it shows what can be achieved even in these difficult economic times when the private and public sector work together with a common goal.”
Steve Rumbelow, chief executive of Burnley Borough Council, said: ¨Burnley Bridge is well located and will provide state-of-the-art facilities in which ambitious companies can thrive. Eshton have had to be tenacious in the current market to bring this site forward and it has been a pleasure to help make it happen. James Chapman and the Eshton team have done a great job.”
Joint agents for the scheme are Dove, Haigh Phillips of Leeds and Trevor Dawson of Blackburn.
