130,000 sq ft of speculative development goes before planners
A BLACK Country business park is set to undergo a major expansion to try and support the area’s growth ambitions.
London & Cambridge Properties, owner of the Pensnett Estate, Kingswinford, plans to create 260,000 sq ft of warehousing and industrial space at the site, which is already one of the largest business parks in the UK.
The property and development company has submitted plans to Dudley Borough Council for phase one of the scheme, which would see the construction of 130,000 sq ft of speculative development. This equates to four blocks of units on land to the rear of LCP’s headquarters in First Avenue.
A second phase of 130,000 sq ft remains on the drawing board for now, but there are plans to bring it forward as appropriate.
The estate is currently home to 170 businesses, spread across 2.4 million sq ft of commercial space. If the council’s planning committee authorises the development, then work could start as early as Q4 2016, with an anticipated completion date of late 2017.
Andrew Preston, industrial portfolio manager at LCP, said the expansion represented a substantial investment. LCP is already targeting businesses looking for industrial or warehouse units of 10,000 sq ft and above.
“We have decided to press ahead with phase one of this speculative development due to void levels being so low on the estate, and enquiries for businesses looking to relocate onto the estate being encouragingly high,” said Mr Preston.
The Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (BCLEP) has been supporting LCP with the development, having already received Site Investigation Funding. Both parties are now working together to obtain next stage gap funding to bring the site to market.
The expansion, aimed at meeting the Black Country’s employment needs by attracting new firms to the area, will be the second recent speculative development carried out by the company.
Two years ago, it opened the £1.5m Progress Point, an industrial and warehouse development comprising 21,000 sq ft of warehouse and industrial space.
LCP is one of the UK’s largest private owners of industrial, retail and office property to let. The company manages a portfolio in excess of 15 million sq ft of commercial property across the UK, which is held for long-term investment purposes.
