A ceremony to mark the start on site of a new 35,000 sq ft unit under construction for one of the UK’s leading building materials supplier Selco Builders Warehouse was held onsite at Horizon38 – the new 1 million sq ft mixed use development located on the site of the former-Rolls Royce Filton Works announced last October and being redeveloped jointly by developers St Francis Group and iSec.
The new building under construction is being developed on a 2,43-acre plot and when finished will serve as a new branch for Selco to serve its growing number of customers in Bristol and the south west. Detailed planning consent was granted for the development last year, with Selco taking a 15-year lease. Initial building work began at the start of March and is expected to be complete by October 2017.
Attending the event were representatives from developers St Francis Group and iSec together with building contractors Buckingham Group.
At the event, commenting Gareth Williams, Development Director at St Francis Group, said: “The construction of this new branch for Selco is the first pre-let development to physically come out of the ground on Horizon38 since we announced development of the scheme, and is a hugely symbolic moment in the regeneration of this landmark site.
Horizon38 has been consciously designed with a significant element of trade counter usage and the signing of Selco Builders Warehouse serves as a significant anchor on this aspect of the scheme.
When completed this highly prominent 25-acre trade/commercial park will provide circa 32,000 sq ft of high-quality trade counter accommodation across a variety of different sized units. It will provide much needed new commercial accommodation into the North Bristol market and serve as the outstanding trade park development to rival any other throughout the South West.
Going on to say, “Since launching the development last October, we have already made significant progress across the site and in the last few weeks also announced the completion of over 210,000 sq ft of new, high quality logistics, manufacturing and industrial space to meet much needed demand from local businesses. Interest in this new space is significant and we expect to make further announcements in due course”.
Selco is currently undergoing a period of expansion and now has more than 50 branches across the UK, including one already in Bristol on Sheene Way in Bedminster.
Horizon 38 is a landmark strategic development site, directing fronting onto the A38 in Filton near the former Filton airfield, Airbus and Rolls-Royce Engines manufacturing plants. It sits within the Filton Enterprise Area; the largest and most significant regeneration and inward investment project in the south west and just 3 miles from Bristol city centre and less than 2 miles from the M5.