Building Briefs: ProLogis on target; LHL wins £11.5m deal; U-Explore in at Magna 34; and more
PROLOGIS is on schedule to hand over its vast distribution warehouse in Bradford to Marks & Spencer in spring.
US developer ProLogis, the world’s biggest provider of distribution warehouses, is in the process of constructing a steel building that will comprise more than 1m sq ft of industrial and office space.
The building is at ProLogis Park Bradford, a 90-acre site on Rooley Lane close to the M606 motorway.
Marks & Spencer said it was committed to investing in Bradford and that the new building would be the largest M&S distribution centre in the UK.
The project is expected to create a significant number of jobs at the M&S centre, while further jobs will be generated across the remainder of the site.
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A SERIES of contracts to project manage the development of new primary care centres throughout the North have been won by surveyors and architects the LHL Group.
The contracts, which include three new centres in Grimsby with an £11.5m capital value as well as others in West Yorkshire, Manchester and Nottingham, have been won through LHL Healthcare, a specialist division of LHL Group which supports building projects within the NHS and private healthcare.
They include the £1.5m Raj Medical Centre, Grimsby, being developed for Raj Medical Practice which serves 4,500 patients. Building work is due to start in February and complete in November 2010 when the practice will relocate from an adjacent semi-detached house which is unsuitable for modern healthcare delivery.
A planning application has been submitted for the second contract, a £4m primary care centre in Grimsby. The third Grimsby scheme is the £6m Springfield Primary Care Centre.
The Grimsby schemes are all part of a ten-year estates strategy by NE Lincs Care Trust Plus to upgrade all inadequate GP premises.
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EDUCATIONAL media company U-Explore has taken 2,600 sq ft of office space on a three year lease at Loxley Land and Property and Jaguar Estates’ £31M Magna 34 Business Park in Rotherham.
Knight Frank represented Magna 34 while U-Explore represented themselves.
U-Explore had outgrown its previous Parkgate offices having boosted its staff numbers by 50% in the last year. The move to the ground floor space is part of a transition for the company which has also recently undergone a re-branding exercise.
U-Explore join existing tenants Duocall Communications, Sortec, Primary Alloys and On Communications in the building which was launched as part of phase one of the 19 acre park and is now fully occupied.
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A CHANGE of use has been achieved for one of South Yorkshire’s few industrial schemes to go ahead during the recession.
A change of use, extending the current industrial use to include warehousing and distribution, has been backed by Rotherham Metropolitan Council planners for Northfields Industrial Park, Rotherham, to ensure that as wide a range of potential occupiers can benefit from the scheme which was completed this summer.
Northfields Industrial Park, created by Sheffield-based developer Henry Boot, totals 10,000 sq ft which can be divided into two 5,000 sq ft units with six-metres clear eaves height, electric sectional overhead doors, a secure yard and private parking.
Henry Boot Developments director Vivienne Clements said: “The recession and reduced funding for speculative property development means that, as the economy improves, there could be a shortage of high-quality units for growing business.
“We sought planning for as wide a range of uses to make the development available to a broader spectrum of potential occupiers so they are able to benefit from having new, high-quality cost-efficient premises and are pleased to have gained the backing of planners.”
Suzie Nelson, an associate in the industrial agency team at Leeds-based property consultants, King Sturge, which has been appointed agents to the new scheme, said: “It is really good news that Henry Boot Developments completed this speculative industrial scheme during the tougher economic climate when so many commercial property schemes have been halted.
Sheffield-based chartered surveyors, Fernie Greaves, is joint agent for the scheme.
