Work has begun on a new £5.5 million specialist food business park in Leicester after contractors Willmott Dixon moved onto the site last month.
Leicester Food Park, which has received £3.4 million in funding from the European Regional Development Fund, will consist of 19,250 sq ft of high-quality bespoke food grade units when it is completed later this year.
The scheme will include nine specialist units ranging in size from 1,000 to 5,000 sq ft to encourage start-up and smaller grow-on businesses in the food and drink manufacturing industry.
Operations director at Willmott Dixon, Nick Heath, said: “Leicester City Council has identified food and drink as a key target area for growth and it is expected that this new food park will attract investment and create jobs locally.
“Estimates suggest that Leicester Food park will mean 80 extra jobs locally and attract or encourage the creation of up to 35 businesses, making this an extremely important development for the city.
“Throughout the project we will also be taking on a new apprentice as well as supporting another to complete their construction apprenticeship. This is really important to us as, wherever possible, we strive to invest in the futures of young people living locally to the works that we are doing, and, in this case, we are delighted to be able to assist these two young people.”
Leicester city mayor, Peter Soulsby, said: “I’m delighted that work is now underway to create Leicester Food Park.
“Our Economic Action Plan for the city identifies the food and drink industry as a business sector we particularly want to encourage to grow, and this specialist food park will bring jobs and investors to Leicester.
“These bespoke food-grade business units will help us establish the city as a centre for food and drink industries, bringing economic benefits to the people who live here.
“The idea for a food park was first raised more than 10 years ago so it is particularly pleasing now to see it start to become a reality. When we didn the detailed market research 18 months ago, it was clear that there was a strong demand for these sorts of premises from businesses both within and outside of the city.”
The multi-million pound food park is due for completion by November 2014.
