Member Article

Decade of Success at Former Colliery Site

Phase 3 of Priority Sites’ Green Lane 100,000 sq ft warehouse and distribution hub is now fully occupied marking the successful end to over 10 years of phased former colliery site regeneration which has seen the creation and retention of some 600 jobs by the 16 companies who have invested into the developments.

Priority Sites acquired some 6.6 acres of former colliery land on Green Lane in Featherstone, West Yorkshire in 2001 with a vision to capitalise on the land’s excellent connectivity to the major motorway networks via J31 of the M62. Phases 1 and 2 of development provided circa 60,000 sq ft of high quality industrial units which were built on a speculative basis and sold to various owner occupiers shortly after completion.

A further 42,950 sq ft was speculatively developed over 10 buildings in Phase 3 ‘Innovation Square’ on an additional 3.7 acres and within 9 months of completion, appointed agents Gent Visick had leased 8 units to firms such as P & W Site Fixing, Northgate Information Solutions Limited and Apple Vending. The final letting has now been secured for the flagship 10,000 sq ft Unit 1 to Route One Highways Limited who were unrepresented in the deal.

Adam Richardson, Development Manager at Priority Sites, discusses the scheme’s success; “The sites at Green Lane were ideally suited to industrial development given its location and historic use. To be in a position where all these speculatively developed units have been let or sold is fantastic news for the West Yorkshire area as the scheme has attracted significant inward investment from a host of companies who have created and safeguarded a high volume of jobs. The success of Green Lane demonstrates the importance of transforming strategic sites in the long-term regeneration of the region.”

Scheme agent Nick Prescott, Associate Partner at Gent Visick attributes the success of the scheme to Priority Sites’ ability to identify market trends and deliver product to meet these. Nick explains; “The research undertaken prior to development of Innovation Square at Green Lane clearly identified that marked demand was being led by firms looking for good quality sub 5,000 sq ft units. Therefore the smaller units were almost immediately snapped up as the developer had delivered quality buildings that were ideally suited to occupiers’ requirements. Some of the companies were upgrading from local premises while others relocated from larger centres such as Leeds or were the satellite operations of larger national firms. The latest tenant, Route One Highways, was seeking client-facing premises in a proven successful logistics centre, which is why the larger, flagship Unit 1 was a perfect match.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Space PR .