Yorkshire developer celebrates business park launch

YORKSHIRE firm Eshton has been celebrating the official launch of a £50m business park development.

Guiseley-based Eshton is developing the Burnley Bridge Business Park scheme at Padiham, east Lancashire, which is expected to create 1,400 new jobs once full.

The bridge and access road across the Leeds-Liverpool canal, which links the business park to the motorway, are now under construction and will be completed this year.

Eshton received a European Regional Development Fund Grant of £3.85m at the end of 2011 to build the bridge, which will provide a physical link into the heart of the development and should make attracting potential tenants much easier.

The scheme, officially launched by Burnley’s MP Gordon Birtwistle, has also been given a further boost through a £2.4m loan to Eshton from Lancashire’s Growing Places Fund.  

The fund is used to unlock investment by triggering the delivery of projects that benefit the county’s economy.  In this case, the money will be used to fund the cost of the bridge and access road.

James Chapman, managing director of Eshton, said: “It is tremendous that work has now started on site. The access road goes right into the heart of the park and its construction means that Burnley Bridge Business Park can now start to welcome occupiers.”

Mr Chapman said that there had already been a “good deal” of interest in Burnley Bridge from potential occupiers, thanks to its location by the M65 and its ability to provide bespoke deals for occupiers.

“Significantly, some larger occupiers have been looking at the site and some have been enquiring about a unit in excess of 500,000 sq ft. There aren’t any other sites in the East Lancashire region where you could build something like that, especially with access straight onto the motorway network,” added.

The agents for Burnley Bridge are Dove Haigh Phillips of Leeds and Trevor Dawson of Blackburn and Burnley.