Multi-million pound plans for a speculative development of a range of industrial and warehouse units at a key West Midlands site have been unveiled by commercial property company Goold Estates.
The development, which has received planning consent from City of Wolverhampton Council, is expected to attract investment and generate dozens of new jobs
Construction of the Steelpark Trading Estate development of around 70,000 sq ft of industrial/warehouse units at Steelpark Way and Bearing Drive, Wednesfield, is due to start this month (May).
The 8.5-acre site has 4.5 acres of developable land and four acres of wetland, which is home to great crested newts. Natural England has this year launched a new policy relating to the conservation of the protected species.
Goold Estates is working closely with Natural England and it is believed this will be the first industrial development under the updated legislation.
Dominic Goold, managing director of Walsall-based Goold Estates, said: “It’s great to see progress being made at Steelpark and we are looking forward to delivering a high quality development which will attract investment and jobs to the region.
“The site, which is adjacent to the Tata Steel Automotive Service Centre, has been vacant and available for development for many years. We acquired it in September last year and now, less than nine months later, we are ready to start construction.
“All of the units are being built speculatively, for sale or lease, because we are confident there is a strong demand in the market. These will be high quality industrial units in a sought-after location with excellent access to the motorway network, being just 4.6 miles west of J10 M6 and four miles south of J1 M54.”
He added: “There is excellent rental growth in the industrial and logistics sector, driven by a severe shortage of units available on the market. For example, Redmill Trading Estate, which we acquired as a completely vacant site in August 2015, was fully let in less than a year.. That clearly demonstrates the level of demand in this region.”
Finance Birmingham has arranged speculative development finance to help fund the project through the West Midlands Combined Authority Collective Investment Fund CIF. This fund aims to accelerate economic regeneration, assisting developers and land owners to bring forward schemes such as Steelpark.
Nick Oakley, senior investment director at Finance Birmingham, said: “This is an excellent, well located site and we are delighted to be supporting Goold Estates in bringing forward this development which will deliver much needed quality industrial accommodation.”
Councillor John Reynolds, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Economy, said: “There is £3.7 billion of investment on site or in the pipeline in the City of Wolverhampton and this is another boost for our regeneration plans.
“The Steelpark Trading Estate development will bring back to life a site that has been redundant for many years, while at the same time protect wildlife in the area. It shows there is confidence in investing in Wolverhampton and most importantly it will bring dozens of jobs to the city.”
Units available at Steelpark Trading Estate vary in size from 8,925 sq ft to 21,450 sq ft. Building specifications can be designed to meet occupier requirements and can be provided as a shell or as a turn-key bespoke project.
