Up to 100 jobs will be created as work begins on the first new speculative industrial developments in the Frome region of Somerset for at least eight years.
Rockhaven Developments Ltd is creating two new centres – the New Enterprise Zone and New Trade Zone - on adjacent plots at Commerce Park in Frome as business confidence returns.
The developments on the area’s premier business park will deliver a total of 20 high-standard units with 55,149 sq ft (5,124 sq m) of space to be marketed by regional property consultancy Myddelton & Major.
The £4m scheme will boost the local economy by generating up to 100 jobs when fully occupied.
Philip Holford, a partner at Myddelton & Major, said: “This is the first new speculative industrial development in the region for at least eight years.
“Rockhaven Development’s investment signals the growing confidence in the commercial property market and wider economic recovery.
“It also reflects the increasing demand for high-quality industrial space regionally from new and expanding companies.
“As the leading business location in the region, Commerce Park is the perfect position for these new developments.
“The units have already attracted keen interest from businesses who want to join the leading national and successful high-profile occupiers already on Commerce Park.”
“This interest has been converted into sales with 50% of the scheme now under offer.”
He added: “The new zones will create jobs, boost trade locally and strengthen the park’s position as one of the dynamos driving the local economy.”
Myddelton & Major, which covers Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset, will act as agent to negotiate freehold sales of the units.
The agents are quoting prices from £160,000 upwards depending on unit size.
The steel frames of the first units on the New Enterprise Zone have already gone up.
Premises will be available in December for the New Enterprise Zone and in April for the New Trade Zone.
The New Enterprise Zone will feature 10 units measuring 1,875 sq ft (174 sq m) and six with 2,250 sq ft (209 sq m) of space suitable for a range of business, industrial and warehouse uses.
The two-storey premises will have minimum eaves heights of 5.1m, loading doors of 3m wide and 3.2m high. There will be 48 car parking spaces and 22 overflow car parking spaces as well as a rigid lorry bay.
The New Trade Zone will feature four units with ground floors of 5,000 sq ft (464 sq m)in size suitable for warehouse, industrial and distribution purposes.
Three units have the option of a mezzanine with 842 sq ft (78 sq m) of extra space.
Two have minimum eaves heights of 7.6m and two have minimum eaves heights of 6m. Three have loading doors measuring 4m by 5m, and the fourth measures 3.79m by 5m. There will be 32 car parking spaces.
A spokesman for Rockhaven Developments Ltd said: “As the economy continues to recover, we recognise the need to provide quality business space for new and expanding businesses.
“Commerce Park represents the ideal location for these significant new developments, which will provide attractive returns for owner-occupiers and investors alike.”
The 64-acre Commerce Park is in a prominent position fronting the A361 to the north east of Frome town centre.
Myddelton & Major let or sold 10 units on the park in 2013. It has also acted in land and building negotiations in 2014, including the sale of units to the Top Banana Team sales and marketing company.
Occupiers on the park include Acheson & Acheson, Cox and Cox, FedEx, the Frome Flyer Public House, Future Form, Guitarbitz, Imperial Commercials, Premier Inn, Primavera, Strikeforce Supplies, Top Banana Team Ltd and Watson Gym Equipment.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed unemployment in the UK fell by 154,000 to 1.97 million – below 2m for the first time in six years.
The drop took the unemployment rate to 6%, its lowest since late 2008.
By contrast the credit crunch and ensuing recession – the severest of its kind in living memory – resulted in an unemployment peak of 2.68m in October 2011, a 17-year high.