AWS get the ball rolling at new park

Nov 14 2007 By The Journal

AN accountancy firm has become the first occupier at Northumberland’s largest business park.

Local firm AWS Accountancy has purchased a 2,250sq ft unit in Berrymoor Court, part of the first phase of new office buildings at Northumberland Business Park.

A local legal practice is taking a unit of 10,070sq ft in the adjoining Silverton Court and contracts are due to be exchanged shortly.

The scheme has attracted considerable interest and a number of other parties are currently in negotiation for further space.

Northumberland Business Park is being speculatively developed on a 47-acre site at the junction of the A19 and A189, just south of Cramlington, by the UK’s largest speculative office developer, Cheshire-based Gladman Developments, in partnership with Northumberland County Council.

It is expected to help bring 3,000 jobs into the county over the next nine years, representing a £55m investment in the economy.

The first 70,000sq ft of the office scheme has already been completed and will be officially launched on November 22 to a specially invited audience of local and national office agents.

It has buildings which range in size from 2,250sq ft to 25,500sq ft, available for sale or lease, with freehold prices based on £165psf and rents based on £14psf.

Paul Roberts, of Gladman Developments, said: “Now that prospective occupiers can feel and touch the quality of the new buildings, we have had many more enquiries and we have completed our first deal.

“We believe that our new office park will help to satisfy a pent-up demand for new office accommodation in the South East Northumberland area.

“We expect the new accommodation at Northumberland Business Park to provide local business owners, footloose national organisations and public sector bodies with a wide range of purpose-built, high quality office space in the area for the first time.

“We know that the excellent location of the park, next to the A19 and A189, and less than two miles from the A1 is attractive to many office occupiers, and we also know that they are impressed with its semi-rural setting.”

The vision for the business park is to create an exemplar development, reflecting the immediate natural environment, providing productive office space for local workers.

To help achieve this, an additional 15 acres have been set aside for soft landscaping, including trees, wildflower meadows and green spaces around each building and along internal roads.

In addition to Northumberland Business Park, Gladman Developments has many office and industrial schemes under construction in the North-East.

It has just started work on 27,000sq ft of new purpose-built offices and 12,000sq ft of small industrial units at Ramparts Business Park near Berwick-upon-Tweed.

It is also marketing offices at Merchant Court at Monkton South Business Park in Hebburn, Hedley Court at Orion Business Park in North Tyneside, Lumley Court at Chester-Le-Street and Parsons Court in Newton Aycliffe and in September opened an office in the centre of Newcastle to help acquire more development land.

Joint agents for Northumberland Business Park are GVA Lamb Edge and Lambert Smith Hampton.

More information about Gladman is available at www.gladman.co.uk