Development opportunities on offer thanks to major investment
HUGE development opportunities have been opened up by the major £310m Siemens and ABP investment in the Humber.
This week, engineering giant Siemens announced it will invest £160m in the previously announced site at Green Port Hull in Alexandra Dock and in a new rotor blade manufacturing facility in nearby Paull. Associated British Ports (ABP) is investing a further £150m in the Green Port Hull development. The £310m investment will create up to 1,000 jobs directly – 550 at the blade factory and 450 at Green Port Hull – with additional jobs during construction and indirectly in the supply chain.
From the site at Green Port Hull on Hedon Road, to a new rotor blade manufacturing facility in Paull lies hundreds of acres of Enterprise Zone status land.
East Yorkshire’s commercial property businesses are confident this will have a positive effect on business.
Chartered surveyors in Hull, Garness Jones, acts for Wykeland’s Kingston International Business Park and Wyke Works Advanced Engineering Park – both sites are on Hedon Road and have industrial and manufacturing uses. The agency also acts for Keystore – a warehouse and distribution facility opposite to the Dock site that’s going to be developed.
David Garness, managing director of Garness Jones, said: “We are optimistic about benefitting from this. There are vast amounts of Enterprise Zone land in the Humber region and I expect there to be a cluster of activity around the Docks and Hedon Road.”
He said Kingston International Business Park currently has a 75,000 sq ft factory available and a 50,000 sq ft specialist engineering site available. “This will be of interest to the renewable sector – for those businesses that want to be up and running quickly,” he said.
At Wyke Works, there’s up to 80,000 sq ft of new build development available.
“A key thing for companies which want specialist facilities is being in an Enterprise Zone. The renewables sector will gravitate towards areas with Enterprise Zone status for obvious reasons,” Mr Garness added.
Companies in the Humber Enterprise Zone (the Humber renewable energy super cluster) – at 484 hectares, equivalent to 780 football pitches, the largest Enterprise Zone in the country – benefit from incentives such as access to skills and experience in related sectors including maritime and engineering, business rates relief and enhanced capital allowances.
In last week’s Budget, the chancellor extended the incentives on Enterprise Zones. Originally enhanced capital allowances which are available on four of the Humber’s enterprise zone sites – Green Port Hull, Queen Elizabeth Dock, Paull and Able Marine Energy Park – allowed businesses to deduct the costs of qualifying plant and machinery to a maximum of £100m to offset against corporation tax if the investment is made before April 2017. The incentive, which could be worth up to £10m per company, will now be available until April 2020. Rates incentive lasts for five years per company and could be worth up to €400,000, depending on the size of its business rates bill.
Mr Garness said that a few years ago, when Siemens signed a memorandum of understanding with ABP and planning consent was secured, there was a surge of enquiries and he now expects that to come forward.
However, Mr Garness pointed out that it’s important to remember that there has to be a compelling reason for a business to set up a factory in the area or to relocate. He said the impact of Siemens’ investment could be in the wider North of the country with businesses outside of the immediate East Yorkshire region also benefitting from this investment.
Partner at East Yorkshire’s Scotts commercial property agents, Tim Powell, said he believes the Siemens investment is going to have a “phenomenal” effect on Hedon Road. Scotts is the agent for the Burma Drive industrial estate – another site along Hedon Road with Enterprise Zone status.
“This news has put Hull on the map and I suspect there will be a real focus on Hull. But are we going to see a rise in enquiries for third party space? What is the supply chain? We need to know this.
“The tier two suppliers will at the Paull site, so we need to see if they will bring other businesses.
“I am confident there will be an influx of larger scale enquiries and with the skilled workforce set to come about, that is hopefully going to attract more business here.
“I hope it will have a positive effect and will bring people who aren’t connected to Siemens directly, into the area.”
The site of the former Hull Maternity Hospital – where a £25m business park is planned – the Marfleet Environmental Technology Park and development land in Ebba Street and Valetta Street also have Enterprise Zone status.
