Business park on huge scale

Apr 16 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

WORK has begun on building the giant Heighington Lane West development in County Durham – which could cost up to £100m and is one of the largest developments of its kind anywhere in the UK.

The 104-acre site is on the outskirts of Newton Aycliffe and is owned by Durham County Council and Sedgefield Borough Council.

With planning approval now granted, developers Merchant Place have begun work on constructing a business park of up to 1.4m sqft, with the potential for one unit alone to be a massive 1m sqft.

The development could house many hundreds of workers, dependent on the identity of the end user.

The site also benefits from good-quality infrastructure links with the A1(M) within a few hundred yards and a railway line also running alongside.

Agents Cushman & Wakefield says any direct link to the rail line would only be done to order, should an occupier specify that they require it.

Heighington Lane West will also offer occupiers access to the new Northern Gateway container terminal at Teesport.

Merchant Place are obliged to adhere to a number of stringent environmental regulations including sectioning off a large portion of the site to preserve its wildlife.

Stewart Watkins, managing director of County Durham Development Company, said: “We are delighted that Merchant Place are proposing such a major development for this prestigious site.

“The County Durham Development Company has worked closely with the county council, Sedgefield Borough Council and the developers to help ensure that the tremendous potential of this site to attract first-class occupiers and significant numbers of new jobs will be realised.”

Talks are currently under way with potential tenants to fill the properties.

Kevin Storey, a partner at Cushman & Wakefield, agents for Merchant Place, said: “There are few development sites of this size still available in the country, and with such good transport links, it seems to provide an excellent potential location for business premises.”