Member Article

New investment sites set to open up across Chesterfield

Chesterfield is ready to do business and willing to make sound investments to ensure the local economy achieves its growth ambitions. That was the message at the 2022 Chesterfield Investment Summit (28 September).

Speaking at the annual summit organised by Destination Chesterfield and Derbyshire Economic Partnership, Dr Huw Bowen, Chief Executive of Chesterfield Borough Council, said: “Our record of investment and delivery, with a whole range of partners, shows that the council is willing to invest and provide support to bring projects forward that will hep the borough grow and deliver jobs and opportunities to the people that live here.”

A number of new development sites are now set to be opened up for future commercial, industrial, office and residential investment, adding to the current £2billion growth programme already underway across Chesterfield town centre and the borough.

Hartington Industrial Park, a new 75,000 sqm industrial and warehouse development located on the site of the former Coalite Plant in Staveley, aims to build on the success of Markham Vale. Job numbers created by businesses who are based at Markham Vale are now beyond that of when the site operated as a colliery.

Huw added: “Markham Vale has been a tremendous success with demand for commercial space outstripping supply. Chesterfield’s industrial past has opened up a number of investment sites which have the potential to be as successful as Markham Vale in terms of job opportunities and growth in key areas of the borough.”

Alongside industrial sites, Chesterfield Borough Council has also made significant investment in town centre office accommodation, meeting the post pandemic demand for high quality, flexible workspace.

Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre, which opened in July earlier this year, already boasts more than 50% occupancy with 17 of the 32 offices now tenanted. Later this year, Chesterfield will gain Grade A, large footplate offices following the completion of One Waterside Place as part of the £320 million Chesterfield Waterside regeneration scheme. Already tenants have been secured for a number of the floors in the six-storey office block located next to the train station.

Office interiors expert Amy Revell, Co-Founder and Director of We Are Spaces Limited, who spoke at the summit said: “Chesterfield is an exciting place to be right now. Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre and One Waterside Place have given us Grade ‘A’ office space for people to work in. “These workspaces are comparable to those in bigger cities like Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester which deliver the connectivity for hybrid working for a better work/life balance.”

In addition to One Waterside Place, residential and leisure development sites are also being brought forward in the Chesterfield Waterside with the scheme developers, Bolsterstone Group, in talks with hotel and carpark operators as well as investors in a number of Build to Rent apartments.

Confident that investment in the borough will continue at pace, Councillor Tricia Gilby Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, said: “While the current financial climate is a concern, Chesterfield is very resilient and has consistently come out of national crises stronger than it went into them. In the last recession we established Destination Chesterfield, and this has reaped rewards. We also resolved as a council and with all our partners, to come out of the pandemic fighting and as a result a number of developments came out of the ground, including One Waterside Place and the Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre.

“Chesterfield Brough Council and our partners will now work together with inward investors to ensure the next five years are as good as, if not better, than the last five years.”

Work has already begun on the town’s ambitious HS2 Station Masterplan which saw the recent demolition of the Chesterfield Hotel, opening up a further development site for investment.

Councillor Gilby added: “Chesterfield’s geographical location and connectivity are key to attracting investment and new residents. Chesterfield is perfectly positioned making major cities very accessible for post Covid working trends, which combine home and office working and we now have a market-leading portfolio of office space to capitalise on this.”

The 2022 Chesterfield Investment Summit was supported by the European Regional Development Fund. The annual free-to-attend event was held at Casa Hotel. It showcased investment activity in the town and was attended by more than 200 people.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Melton .