Shrewsbury Business Park development set to create hundreds of jobs
New office buildings which could provide jobs for more than 600 people are set to go up on Shrewsbury Business Park from early 2014, once work to prepare the land for development has been completed.
The contract for the infrastructure works, which has recently gone out to tender, is funded by a £1.5m investment by Shropshire Council. The design work was carried out by Shropshire Council’s engineering consultant, Mouchel.
The works will create a new access road from Wenlock Road to Anchorage Avenue and extend the existing access road, and is expected to be complete by spring 2014.
The work will open up the remaining 6.29 acres of the business park, and have the capacity to accommodate 160,000 sq ft of office floor space and a 10,000 sq ft local centre that would include shops to serve the business park and neighbouring residents.
Planning permission has already been granted to developer, Alaska, to develop 150,000 square feet of office space – helping to generate over £13m of private sector investment and create more than 600 jobs.
The proposals will also open the western end of the site adjacent to Weeping Cross roundabout which is high profile location visible from the A5 bypass It is hoped that once the office construction work begins it will catch the attention of people using the bypass, acting as a stimulus to further investment.
Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for business growth, said:
“This investment is a great vote of confidence by Shropshire Council in the development of the county’s premier business park and the future economic development of Shrewsbury and Shropshire.
“The council’s investment will help to attract millions of pounds of investment to the area and create hundreds of jobs, and will also provide a real boost to the local area, with the new entrance from Wenlock Road opening up and improving access to the western end of the Business Park.”
Alan Hay from Alaska, said:
“Although the Business Park has been successful, it has always suffered from a lack of local facilities, where our occupiers can shop or eat. Our Masterplan for phase 2 now provides for a centre where these can be provided and we are already talking to operators keen to get involved. Completion of the infrastructure will enable this to happen and allow us to get on site and start building.”
Previous public sector investment in the business park has totalled over £53m and generated around 1,150 jobs since it was developed in the mid-1980s. The most recent investment of £1.2m in 2007 facilitated over 50,000 sq ft of development and £10m of private sector investment, and generated about 450 jobs.
