One of Wales’ biggest creative companies, Orchard Media & Events, has opened a new carpentry workshop at premises in Lewis Road in Cardiff Bay.
The company has taken a five year lease on the 7,006 sq ft (651 sq m) Unit 3 in Lewis Road at an annual rental of £28,000. The owner – TB Davies (Cardiff) Limited – acquired the 3.5 acre site with 48,000 sq ft of offices and warehousing for £2.2m to house its own fast-growing ladders and access equipment business, and has let parts of the site to other companies.
Alastair Wilson, corporate events director, said: “Due to the increase in demand, we have taken the decision to open our own carpentry workshop. This will allow us to produce client’s exhibition stands, trade shows, AV productions and events all in house, providing us with more flexibility to adapt to clients briefs, as well as greater control over the final product and quality.
“Business is going well and the new facilities will enable us to continue to expand by providing a first-class service to our customers.”
The Cardiff office of Knight Frank advised TB Davies in the transaction. Neil Francis, partner in the industrial agency team of Knight Frank, added: “Having advised the vendor during the sale of the overall Lewis Road site to TB Davies, we were then very happy to help TB Davies find new tenants for excess capacity on the site.
“As well as the 7,000 sq ft let to Orchard, two further 7,000 sq ft units have already been let to CMC and The Maltings, so the entire site is now fully occupied, with the remaining area of the site in use as a warehouse and trade counter for TB Davies. It is great to see this large Cardiff Bay site fully occupied so quickly.”
Orchard Media employs over 60 members of staff and provides a range of creative services from graphic design, media buying and PR, to events and entertainment. Clients include Aston Martin and Visit Wales, and the company manages the Bio Wales event – the flagship event for the life sciences sector in Wales.