JLL and Bulleys have been appointed to market an additional 60acres at i54, one of the UK’s most significant advanced manufacturing sites on the M54 in Wolverhampton, already home to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
Planning permission was granted in January of this year to create the extension to the west of the existing 238-acre i54 site, to accommodate new facilities from 100,000 sq ft up to one million square feet.
Richard James Moore, director of the Industrial and Logistics team at JLL said this new opportunity at i54 allows the West Midlands to remain at the forefront of advanced manufacturing in the UK.
“i54 is an important strategic site having already attracted top international companies including JLR, Moog Aircraft Group, ERA Home Security, Atlas Copco and Eurofins Food Testing, InternationalSecurity Printers and Morris Site Machinery as part of 2.5 million sq ft of space currently occupied.”
The i54 extension will be accessed via a dedicated junction off the M54, which links to the motorway network via the M6, M6 Toll and A449.
Noel Muscutt, partner at Bulleys added: “Located at the centre of the UK, it’s connectivity is hard to rival. Infrastructure and access works to open up the full 100-acre extension are well underway and will see the delivery of the first 60 acres of serviced plots by June 2021.
“There aren’t many sites in the region that could accommodate up to one million square foot and we’re expecting there to be strong interest from further advanced manufacturing, technology, training or innovation-related companies.”
John Flynn of Staffordshire County Council and David Sabine, a director of Cadence Management who has been commissioned through the City of Wolverhampton on behalf of the Partnership said good progress was being made.
‘Our appointed contractors Amey and their supply chain are on programme to deliver the access road, bridleway diversion and site clearance early in the New Year, with the plateauing and service infrastructure for the development due to start in June.” Said David Sabine.
“It’s great to see works on the extension commencing having been working on delivery and funding strategy over a number of years and which has now obtained full approval from the three councils as well as support from the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership and Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership”.
The i54 site continues to be a very successful partnership between Staffordshire County Council, the City of Wolverhampton Council and South Staffordshire Council with the next 60 acres delivering up to 1,700 high-value manufacturing job opportunities for local people.