Review of the property week
MARKS & Spencer has officially opened its new £40m warehouse on the Prologis Park in Bradford.
The site, covering 1.1m sq ft, will employ 1,200 people when fully operational and will be one of four nationwide replacing an existing network of more than 100 warehouses.
Speaking at the opening, M&S executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose said the opening was an important step in the company’s turnaround strategy and would improve their service to customers.
Marks & Spencer will use the site to serve its network of stores with furniture products and shop equipment and, from early next year, non-refrigerated food.
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CITY leaders in Leeds have drawn up plans to redevelop land south of the River Aire in a scheme they hope will create thousands of jobs.
The plans cover the area between Crown Point Road and Victoria Road and include a new green space to open up the waterfront and help attract new businesses and shops.
Major landowners in the area include Asda, which has its headquarters on Great Wilson Street, McAleer and Rushe and Carlsberg Tetley, which is closing its Tetley brewery in 2011.
The council intends to consult the public on the plans before taking a final decision later this year.
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DRINKS and snack machine supplier GVS Assist has taken a three year lease on a unit near Castleford to create new operations centre.
The 22,000 sq ft unit at the Methley Road Industrial Estate, marketed by Leeds property agent Gent Visick, adds to the site GVS already operates in Normanton.
GVS assist supplies and maintains tea, coffee and snack machines to companies including Tesco and Marks & Spencer and employs 200 people across the country.
Nick Prescott, from Gent Visick, said: ‘The site is a great location for GVS Assist, offering good transport links to the M62 and M1 Motorways. We are delighted with the deal which moves us one step closer to full occupation at the site.”
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DEMAND for retail space rose in Yorkshire as the region’s commercial property sector bucked national trends in the first quarter.
A quarter of Yorkshire’s chartered surveyors reported a rise in demand for retail premises and sentiment remained steady on industrial buildings in a survey published today.
However, office demand in the region fell in the figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Nationally, more chartered surveyors reported a fall in demand from tenants in the commercial property sector than those pointing to a rise.
