Cygnet plans new £6m HQ
CYGNET Group has announced plans to build a new £6m manufacturing facility and company HQ on the site of the former Cheshire Salt Works at Wincham, near Northwich.
The company announced its plans after agreeing a deal with Stockport-based Chantry Developments to buy a four-acre plot surrounding its existing HQ at New Cheshire Business Park. The deal has been funded by Royal Bank of Scotland, with law firm DTM Legal and Chester-based Tor Project Services advising on the purchase.
The three-phase development programme will begin in 2013 and will increase its total footprint to 100,000 sq ft, meaning Cygnet Group can bring together three business units onto one site. Plans will be submitted in September.
Cygnet Group managing director Matthew Kimpton-Smith said: “The new development quadruples our production, testing and office space, providing us with all the facilities we need to fulfil customer projects and achieve our growth targets for at least the next five years.
“Acquiring and developing our own site gives us complete control over the project and the opportunity to design space that fits our exact needs. It will also allow us to consolidate all three of our business units on one site by 2017 and create our own centre of engineering excellence here in the North West.”
Cygnet Group has a number of engineering businesses designing machiner for the textiles and oil & gas sectors, as well as a range of automation equipment used in the car and aerospace industries.
The firm reported a doubling of turnover to £16m in the year to April and it employs 96 staff who manufacture 99% of its product range in the UK.
Peter Howarth, owner of Tor Project Services and project manager of the development, said: “This is a very significant build in the northwest commercial property market where developments of this scale have been scarce in recent years.
“Our next step is to finalise the masterplan and secure planning consent for what will be a model of best practice in a highly specialised industry.”
RBS relationship director Rick Beard said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for Cygnet to expand and I’m delighted we’ve been able to put in place the required funding to make this move possible. Matthew and his team are very ambitious and this is a key development for the future of the business.”
Chantry Developments, which is owned and managed by Charles Perrin, acquired the 19-acre former New Cheshire Salt Works site in 2007 to redevelop as a business park. The company will retain the site’s remaining 10 acres to develop and rent as commercial and light industrial space.
