Manufacturer makes move to enterprise park

A Hull business which started life as a brass foundry supplying fishing and commercial shipping on the Humber is moving to a business park as its expansion continues.

Shipham Valves will relocate its entire manufacturing facilities to 60,000sq ft premises at Humber Enterprise Park in Brough.

The 79-acre site was originally set-up by aviation pioneer Robert Blackburn in 1916 and now offers industrial and office space.

Set-up in 1798, Shipham Valves, which is now part of Finnish firm Wärtsilä, will be one of the longest established firms at the park.

The company will operate alongside other business park tenants, which include software specialists itim, Dearing Plastics and Crafty Little Brewery.

James Appleton-Metcalfe, managing director of park owner Citivale, said: “Humber Enterprise Park is proud of its own important heritage so we are delighted to welcome a Hull business which also has a long history.

“The park offers excellence to ambitious firms as demonstrated by the fact that we are continuing to to attract exciting new tenants like Shipham Valves.”

Shipham Valves was approached by the Ministry of Defence in the 1930s to begin supplying the British navy before expanding into the offshore oil and gas industry in the 1970s.

It has begun work on the new premises at Humber Enterprise Park to facilitate the relocation from its current base in Hawthorn Avenue, west Hull.

Chris Harding, managing director, Shipham Valves, said: “The facility gives us a blank canvas to establish a state-of-the-art, highly-flexible and modular manufacturing footprint.

“It also provides room for significant expansion and more importantly, gives a greater opportunity to become more operationally excellent, which is of significant benefit to our customers.”

PPH Commercial secured the letting, one of the largest industrial transactions to take place in East Yorkshire this year.