Marrtree starts work on £3.5m Calder Park business units

From left: James Kirby-Welch, Dave Watts from C&W Architects, George Marshall and William Marshall from Marrtree, Jonathan Jacob from GV & Co, Ian Cowling and Richard Arnold from STP and Tom Asher from Savills

Marrtree Investments has begun construction work on a £3.5m 40,000 sq ft development of nine new business units at Calder Park near Wakefield this month. Marrtree Business Park Wakefield will be the Yorkshire developer’s 23rd strategically located employment site across the north of England, with completion scheduled for June 2025.

The new development will provide warehouse, industrial and trade counter space across nine units of between 3,500 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft. The firm recently completed a £4.5m 27,000 sq ft business park and Starbucks drive thru at Clifton Moor in York earlier this year.

Marrtree Investments director William Marshall said: “Calder Park is a really great location for our brand of modern, ergonomic business space. It has fantastic communication links, situated right next to junction 39 of the M1 motorway, which makes it ideal for a variety of occupiers, and the site is also served by regular public transport and safe cycle routes from Wakefield town centre.

“Demand for really good quality space of this size, like our product, continues to outstrip supply and not surprisingly, we have seen excellent levels of interest so far. As with our previous developments, such as the 70,000 sq ft Sowerby Gateway site at Thirsk, we expect demand to be high for the units at Marrtree Business Park Wakefield, with the prospect of around 100 jobs being created.”

Organisations currently based at Calder Park include National Highways, Taylor Wimpey Homes, West Yorkshire Police and Minster Law.

Marrtree Investments director George Marshall added: “We have also worked really hard on the environmental credentials of this new development, which is next to a 100-acre nature reserve.

“We have incorporated solar panels on the roofs of the units as well as EV charging points, and we are excited that it’s a location that enables people to cycle to work safely and easily.”

Newcastle-based STP Construction has been appointed as the main contractor for the construction of the new business park, with the Leeds offices of Savills, and GV & Co appointed as letting agents.

Founded in Bradford in the 1940s, and now run by the third-generation brothers William and George Marshall, the Marrtree Group of companies has operated for over 80 years. With interests in commercial and residential property, quarrying and forestry, the business is now based in Harrogate.