Brookhouse starts work on Leigh supermarket
BROOKHOUSE Properties has started work on construction of the 118,000 sq ft anchor Sainsbury’s foodstore in Leigh after completing a development agreement with the supermarket giant.
Managing director Mike Nuttall said the company has already begun work on the foodstore, which forms part of a wider mixed-use extension of the Parsonage Retail Park. Sainsbury’s is relocating from an existing 43,000 sq ft unit on the park.
Planning approval for the supermarket was granted by Wigan Borough Council in November last year. The new supermarket has been designed by architects Cassidy & Ashton and the shell is currently being built by Bowmer & Kirkland.
The contractor is also expected to carry out fit-out works for Sainsbury’s. The supermarket is expected to be open by the end of the year.
Manchester-based law firm JMW advised on the acquisition of the site, the legal agreements with Sainsbury’s and securing the requisite highway and planning consents.
Peter Chape, a partner in JMW’s commercial property team, said: “It has been a pleasure to act for Brookhouse in adding to their already substantial retail investment in Leigh. The deal was a complicated affair involving not only the proposed demolition and relocation of an existing Sainsbury’s food store and petrol filling station but also major highway infrastructure works, which required lengthy negotiations with Wigan Borough Council.
“The people of Leigh can now look forward to shopping at a fantastic new supermarket before the end of 2012.”
The supermarket is the first phase of a wider development which will include more than 150 homes, a business park, a medical centre and a new linear park.
