Ian Harman BSc MRICS, a Director of Prop-Search, writes: It may be just over 80 years since Corby – then a small village with a population of 1,500 – drew workers from all over the Country with the explosion of the steel industry, but whilst that trade may be a distant memory, the town still remains the fastest growing place in England.
According to figures from the Land Registry, Corby but has had the highest proportion of new-home sales in any area in England and Wales over the past two decades. This trend does look set to continue, with the last three years alone delivering a further 1,445 new homes for the town.
Alongside building new homes, industry in the town has continued to grow apace, supported by falling unemployment figures, record company net growth – above the UK average – and record new company registrations. The town has also received a £35 million investment with the opening of the A43 Corby link road – a new 6.5km dual-carriageway to the south-east of the town, connecting the A6003 with the A43 at the Stanion roundabout, which helps reduce traffic flow through the centre of Corby.
Corby was also granted assisted area status last year, a move which could further boost job creation and growth. The new status makes local businesses eligible to bid for additional funding and tax breaks to create jobs, and invest in new premises and/or machinery. The eligible wards are Central Ward, East Ward, Rowlett Ward, Shire Lodge Ward, Stanion and Corby Village Ward, Weldon and Gretton Ward.
It is not surprisingly therefore that 2015 will see a slow but gradual return to speculative development, albeit within the industrial/distribution sector. The first sods are shortly expected to be cut on two separate schemes on the Oakley Hay Industrial Estate, with the construction of a 75,000 sq ft warehouse unit at Tripark and two units, comprising 16,000 sq ft and 10,000 sq ft, at Saxon 26. The largest unit currently scheduled for speculative construction is on Clowes Development’s Centrix scheme at Southern Gateway – comprising 100,000 sq ft.
Stock levels of available industrial stock have slowly, but surely, depleted since the onset of difficult economic times, which saw an impromptu end of speculative new build schemes. However, continued take-up of premises from companies such as the global office supplies company Staples, which at the end of last year announced is was to open in the town – creating 170 new jobs – have not helped to improve dwindling levels of existing stock. During this year, Staples will be moving into a 528,000 sq ft warehouse off Mitchell Road, which has largely been unused since it was completed several years ago.
An advertising campaign, launched in the summer last year, has been successful in attracting further new businesses into the area. Bluebird Performance Engineering is moving to Rockingham where it will have access to unrivalled test facilities and Global Composites Recycling Solutions, which recycles fiberglass, is also moving into the town, with predictions of employing over 250 people by 2017.
Existing industrial businesses in the town have, encouragingly, also witnessed further growth and in turn created new employment opportunities. About 60 new jobs have been announced at the town’s Golden Wonder factory, after the owner’s multi-million pound investment in the plant – showing the strength of the location economically, especially when it comes to the potential local work force.
Further jobs could also be created this year as Aldi commences consultation on its plans to build a new store on land off Saxon Way West. It is believed that this could lead to 40 full and part-time positions. Also, work on Corby’s new 900 seat cinema – on the former Tresham College site – is progressing well, with the red carpet expected to be laid for its first customers in the spring. The new venue will be the fourth for Savoy Cinemas, a Nottingham based independent chain – with the scheme, owned by Mulberry Developments, expected to also attract national restaurant operators.
A retail unit within the pedestrianized area of Spencer Court, just off Queens Square in the town centre, was opened just before Christmas by the Spanish perfume specialist, Equivalenza. The company, which already has 500 stores in mainland Europe, specialises in high quality perfumes, aromatics and cosmetics at affordable prices. The company also opened a store in Kettering earlier in 2014.
The biggest news however, is that an off-market sale of Willow Place has been agreed. It is understood that after just four years of ownership, Helical Bar is selling the 146 shopping centre to Europa Capital and Sovereign Land for £75 million. Willow Place reportedly attracts more than 160,000 visitors a week and has plans in place to add a further 20,000 sq ft of retailing by 2016.
As the population of Corby looks sets to continue to rise, enterprise areas will maintain the town as a base for businesses, leading the way in high performance technologies, creative industries and the green economy. The town’s ambitions for growth will clearly result in an increased demand for traffic movement and therefore this will need to be efficiently managed to help Corby retain its economic attractiveness and competitiveness.
