A new national headquarters for a leading packaging group has been delivered in Staffordshire by property developer and investor Barberry Group.
Construction of the 60,000 sq ft multi-million pound warehouse, at Kingswood Lakeside Business Park, Cannock, has reached practical completion.
Allgroup LLP, trading as Allpack, has acquired the freehold of the unit at one of the region’s key logistics hubs. The company is relocating its regional operations to the new HQ, bringing much-needed investment and dozens of new jobs to the area.
Barberry development director Jon Robinson said: “We purchased this site to deliver a headquarters building on Kingswood Lakeside Business Park. We are proud to confirm we have completed construction of the Allpack HQ on schedule and budget and are delighted to hand the keys to our customer. It offers Allpack a fantastic new headquarters for its national operations as the company expands and relocates from its current base in Aldridge.
“The successful conclusion of this project clearly demonstrates the quality of our mid-box industrial/logistics buildings, the high specification we deliver, our experience and our flexible approach to catering for occupier requirements, and our ability to offer both leasehold and freehold opportunities.”
Jon added: “We have worked hard and invested heavily to create a Barberry brand in the mid-box industrial/logistics market, providing high quality buildings that we are proud of, being built to a market leading specification acknowledging the key requirements of the mid-box industrial and logistics market and indeed exceeding them in many areas.”
Bob Clarke, operations director at Allpack, said: “We are delighted to get the keys to our new headquarters, allowing us to continue supporting our clients nationally with the exceptional service levels that have become synonymous with the Allpack brand. The past 12 months has seen the ecommerce sector grow to new records and this facility will further enable us to develop and grow our business whilst continuing to service our customer needs and requirements.
“It has been a pleasure working alongside Barberry and we are delighted with the quality of the building.”
The 3.5-acre site was acquired by Barberry from Staffordshire County Council. Barberry secured detailed planning permission and appointed construction contractor Benniman. The ground treatment works required to enhance this prime employment location were part-funded by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) via its Local Growth Fund.
Staffordshire County Council’s assistant director for business and enterprise, Anthony Hodge, said: “Completion of the Barberry/Allpack unit is a significant milestone in the development of Kingswood Lakeside Business Park as this is the final plot. It has come about as a result of close working between the county council, the GBS LEP and Barberry.”
Louise Brooke-Smith, non-executive board director for Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership said: “Kingswood Lakeside Business Park is an example of how we work with the public and private sectors to target investments into projects that drive forwards inclusive economic growth.
“We invested £2 million through our Local Growth Fund to unlock this site for developers and the benefits are clear to see. With a nationally significant business like Allpack choosing this site as their new headquarters, jobs will be created for local people now and in the future. This is critical as we recover from Covid-19 and shows how our initial investment has long-term benefits for people who live and work in the GBSLEP region.”
Richard James-Moore, industrial and logistics director at agents JLL, said: “I am very proud to have played a role in bringing this development to fruition. JLL initially sold the site to Barberry and, having been retained as agents, we were subsequently delighted to negotiate a deal with Allpack. Barberry’s ability to work with the occupier as well as offer freehold terms resulted in a new state of the art HQ facility being developed.”
Barberry has a 3.3 million sq ft industrial/logistics development pipeline with a Gross Development Value of more than £400 million. The company has 455 acres of strategic land, with a development land value of £225 million, across 10 sites under its control, and a £30 million commercial and residential value add portfolio.
It is currently developing a £35 million state-of-the-art precision engineering advanced manufacturing and design facility for a global leader in military and commercial engine controls systems in Gloucestershire. Work recently started on site to deliver the 184,000 sq ft centre of excellence for Moog’s Aircraft Controls Segment at Ashchurch, Tewkesbury.
Barberry also recently started working on site to deliver IMI Truflo Marine’s multi-million-pound centre of engineering excellence in Birmingham. A state-of-the-art manufacturing and design facility is being developed at Birmingham’s Advanced Manufacturing Hub (AMH). IMI Truflo Marine will relocate to the manufacturing hub from its existing facility nearby.