New £25m business park for Hull

A NEW £25m business park set to create 500 new jobs is to be built in Hull.

Hull City Council and local development company Stoneferry Estates have agreed a partnership deal to create the business park on the former Hull Maternity Hospital site.

The park, called Kingston Parklands, will be focussed on the renewable energy sector and will further strengthen the Humber region’s recognition as the Energy Estuary.

Kingston Parklands will cover an area of 11 acres and cost around £25m to build.

The phased development will provide accommodation, research and development facilities as well as high tech warehouses with solar roofs.

The first phase will include a 42,000 sq ft feature building fronting Hedon Road which will offer flexible space to let to businesses.

Hull City Council leader, coun Stephen Brady, said: “The Council is delighted to be partnering with Stoneferry Estates who are a locally based and highly regarded development company. This can only be good news for local contractors and local suppliers who can become involved in the project.”

Once fully developed, Kingston Parklands will accommodate around 500 jobs and is set to breathe new life into the former maternity hospital site for which the Council secured Enterprise Zone status to offer special support to help the growing renewables sector, including business rate relief.

Councillor Martin Mancey, portfolio holder for economic regeneration at the Council, said: “This is a hugely important piece of the City Plan as Kingston Parklands will support business growth and job creation, especially within the renewables sector.”

Paul Dixon, a director at Stoneferry Estates, said the company was committed to encouraging leading, world class companies and workers to the development to help deliver Hull’s City Plan vision of becoming a leading name in renewable energy.

He said: “To secure the opportunity of the Kingston Parklands Site is another exciting phase in the growth of Stoneferry Estates Limited. We are a local company and all our investment portfolio is in Hull and East Riding.

“We take great pride in having been the providers of new facilities for a number of new businesses, together with local and national companies that are expanding.

“We see the Kingston Parklands site as an excellent new build location for new companies wishing to invest in the city and existing companies who are looking to relocate.”

Stoneferry Estates was selected following national marketing for a development partner. The business will shortly be going out to tender for the first phase of the development. The company is also currently in the final phase of the regeneration of the former Humbrol site in Hedon Road, another Enterprise Zone area, which is being transformed into the Marfleet Environmental Technology Park.

Mr Dixon said the new Kingston Parklands tender process would be open to local, regional and national contractors but that he was hopeful, due to previous experience of local companies being the most competitive, that Hull contractors would come out on top again.

Alan Wood & Partners, a market leading provider of professional management and engineering design services with its head office in Hull, has been appointed to manage the delivery of the impressive project.

Nick Ward, managing director of Alan Wood & Partners, said his company was “delighted to have been selected to lead the delivery of this amazing, iconic development for Hull.”

The former Hull Maternity Hospital site is one of 13 areas in the Humber Estuary granted Enterpise Zone status by Government.