Member Article

First tenant secured for proposed St Leonards development

An East Sussex business support service has played a pivotal role in securing the first business for a proposed new development in St Leonards.

Locate East Sussex gave relocation advice to furniture makers Michael Tyler Furniture Ltd as the company’s current site on The Ridge, Hastings, had been earmarked for residential development.

The business support service introduced its managing director Steve Smedley to commercial developer Sea Change Sussex to discuss opportunities at North Queensway Innovation Park.

Now Sea Change Sussex is bringing forward proposals for a new facility for Michael Tyler Furniture Ltd, which employs 45 staff in the production of its high-quality upholstered furniture, as the first development on the North Queensway Innovation Park.

Adam Berger, Location Service Manager at Locate East Sussex, said: “I’m delighted that the advice we gave Michael Tyler Furniture Ltd and our introduction to Sea Change Sussex has proved so useful.

“We are experts at giving impartial advice on business location and our close working relationship with local authorities, commercial agents and developers means we are best placed to provide information about key development sites.”

Steve Smedley added: “I am grateful for the assistance that we received from Adam Berger of Locate East Sussex in introducing us to this opportunity. I look forward to our future collaboration with Locate East Sussex as we continue to grow Michael Tyler Furniture in the future”

The scheme being put forward by Sea Change Sussex is for an approximately 30,000 sq ft single-storey building including workshops, a showroom, offices, a staff common room, canteen and car park.

The building would be on a plot immediately to the right of the entrance from Queensway.

Sea Change is showing the proposals to nearby residents for their comments before submitting a planning application for the scheme in the near future.

The North Queensway Innovation Park is approximately 12 acres and is on Queensway in St Leonards.

It is capable of accommodating up to 120,000 sq ft of business premises and is part of Sea Change’s programme to develop high-quality business sites and premises in order to secure and grow local job opportunities, as envisaged in the borough’s Local Plan.

Sea Change has already cleared plots on the Innovation Park and created a junction from Queensway and entrance into the site. The company has been involved in discussions with several potential occupiers, with Michael Tyler’s the first occupier scheme to be designed.

If the scheme goes ahead, Sea Change would at the same time install drainage and develop part of the site road network to provide access and services to the facility. The works would also include the planting of trees, wildflowers and grasses to reinforce the natural screening between the new building and the High Beech Chalet Park to the north-west.

If the scheme receives planning consent this year, construction is likely to take place in 2016.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .