The final development in a major business and industrial park in Warwickshire is set to create hundreds of jobs and scores of new companies in Warwick and Leamington.
The Space Business Centre Warwick is being created by developer AC Lloyd Commercial and is designed to attract start-up and expanding enterprises and will be a mix of office, industrial and storage units and will provide short-term flexible accommodation to help the businesses grow.
The scheme, which will feature 61 units ranging from 200 sq ft to 500 sq ft, is the final development at Tachbrook Park which was started by AC Lloyd in the early 1980s, and is now home to hundreds of companies.
AC Lloyd has successful Space Business Centres in Gloucester and Cheltenham and has already had strong interest in the £5.5 million Warwick scheme which is not due for completion until the first quarter of next year.
Mark Edwards, Managing Director of AC Lloyd Commercial, said: “It is totally fitting that the final development to complete Tachbrook Park is designed to help companies grow and thrive as, over the last four decades, that is exactly what the park has done for the local and the region’s economy.
“Our Space Business Centres are designed entirely to help companies grow. There are monthly licences rather than longer leases, and there is a range of spaces and uses which make them suitable for a wide variety of businesses.
“We have found that they are the perfect springboard for young companies, many of which have been developed in people’s homes or garages, and they offer the first step on the commercial property ladder.
“The Warwick and Leamington area has always been a hive of innovation and entrepreneurship and we have been really pleased with the level of interest, and hopefully many of the future tenants will thrive and grow to be employers on the park.”
The completion of the steel frame work for the 35,000 sq ft development was marked by a visit from Warwick District Council Planning Cabinet Member Councillor John Cooke and Craig Humphrey, managing director of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Hub.
Humphrey said the post-pandemic timing of the development could be perfect for many young companies.
He said: “Many people used the pandemic to re-evaluate their working lives and anecdotally many have started their own businesses. Two years down the line many of them will be ready to make the step from home into dedicated premises, and this scheme will allow them to do that without the long-term commitment of a more traditional route.
“It is always really important for any area to have a pipeline of growing businesses, and the Space Business Centre will help feed that.”
Councillor Cooke, who is also a county councillor, said: “Tachbook Park is a jewel in Warwickshire’s commercial crown and is home to some of our key companies, so it is great to think that the future generation of economic drivers may well be starting life at this scheme.
“AC Lloyd has been shaping Tachbook Park across four decades, and this will ensure that continues well into the future.”
