Planned business park expected to sustain 200 more jobs

Yorkshire property company Frank Marshall Estates (FME) has bought a prime development site on the outskirts of Wakefield for £1.3m.

The developers purchased the land at Flanshaw Way, close to Junction 41 of the M1, from Flanshaw Property.

Visiting the four-acre site this week, Edward Marshall, director of Frank Marshall Estates, promised to create “the best business park that Wakefield has ever had”.

He explained that the land would be developed in two phases: The first comprising 49,000 sq ft of quality industrial and office space, including a seven unit Nano Park; and the second comprising a further 30,000 sq ft of prime industrial space.

Jimmy Marshall, of Frank Marshall Estates, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to create much-needed employment and business space for Wakefield. We estimate the park, once it is fully developed out, will maintain 200 new and sustainable jobs, providing a substantial boost to the area’s economy.

“We will be submitting a planning application to Wakefield Council shortly and, all being well, we hope to start on site later this year. Watch this space. This is going to be a development of which Wakefield will be really proud.

“The location, so close to the M1 with access to Yorkshire’s superb motorway network, is excellent and Wakefield is a well-established commercial centre with a large, skilled labour force.

“We have a proven record of developing successful business parks and Nano Parks in West Yorkshire and this gives us the confidence and the belief that we can attract quality occupiers to this site.”

Marshall added: “Flanshaw Property and Peter Duffy have been great to deal with. They have listened to our concerns and queries, they have done an excellent job of the physical works and, most notably, they have been exceptionally honourable in how they have dealt with us.”

Flanshaw Property is an associated company of West Yorkshire civil engineers Peter Duffy and the company originally bought the site with the purpose of developing it for partial future use by Peter Duffy.

Rob Hudson, of Peter Duffy, said: “Remaining within Wakefield, and needing to maintain good road links, were essential to PDL’s requirements and the site at Flanshaw was the only real option available at the time, although it was bigger than we needed.

“The topography of the site at Flanshaw led to the development of individual level plateaus to form the development plots and it is the two residual plots (not required for Peter Duffy’s relocation) that have been sold to FME.

“Throughout the purchase and enabling works process, interaction with FME has been excellent and we have worked closely with them to both overcome issues and meeting the requirements for the planned future developments.”

Rob Oliver, of property consultancy Avison Young, added: “We were pleased to have been instructed by Peter Duffy to market these plots. Given their proximity to the motorway network, the interest in speculative development and their flexibility of development, we knew there would be substantial interest.

“We are delighted that Frank Marshall Estates have bought the land and expect their proposed development will be well received by the local occupational market. We look forward to working with them as they bring the whole development forward.”

The joint agents on the scheme are the Leeds office of Carter Towler.

Darren Birkinshaw, partner in Schofield Sweeney’s commercial property team, acted for the buyer and developer, Frank Marshall Estates.