Construction work on a new £5million facility for Leeds packaging company Samuel Grant Group Ltd has started on site in the Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone, bringing the amount of new employment space currently under construction and committed to 425,000 sq ft, with the potential to create hundreds of new jobs.
The 50,000 sq ft warehouse and operations centre for Samuel Grant is scheduled for completion in October 2015 and is the first of three units being built by Commercial Development Projects Ltd on a 6.75 acre site at Thornes Farm.
A deal is close to being agreed with a second occupier to build a second 30,000 sq ft unit on the site. A third 20,000 sq ft unit will be built speculatively, with work on both units following directly on from completion of steelwork for the Samuel Grant building in March.
Land at the 21 hectare Thornes Farm is being built out as a series of separate developments by private sector developers and occupiers.
CDP Ltd acquired the 6.75 acre site from Leeds City Council and is developing the new facility for sale to Samuel Grant on completion. Progress on site can be viewed via by a pole-mounted time lapse camera, transmitting images in real time throughout the day and a time-lapse video showing progress to date.
A grant of £150,000 has been received from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) towards the cost of the new premises, which will expand the company’s warehousing capacity by 50 per cent. Samuel Grant’s workforce will transfer from its base in Beeston to the new location and an additional 15 jobs will be created by the expansion.
Thornes Farm is one of four sites in the 142 hectare Enterprise Zone, located just minutes from Leeds city centre along the route of the A63 with direct access to the national motorway via junction 45 of the M1.
A further 325,000 sq ft of new employment space is also underway within the zone. At Connex 45, Thornes Farm Way, Wilton Developments is building two new units of 50,000 and 30,000 sq ft, and at Logic Leeds, where Muse Developments is building its first 80,000 sq ft unit. Both developments are scheduled for completion in Summer 2015 and could create up to 200 jobs.
Fast progress is also being made on Veolia’s 165,000 sq ft energy recovery and recycling plant at Newmarket Lane, while at Temple Green, the largest of the sites in the Enterprise Zone, a £7.5 million programme of infrastructure and groundwork is underway which will open up access to further phases of development that could support up to 700 jobs.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council’s executive member for transport and the economy said: “Rapid progress is now being made in the Enterprise Zone, which is key to our strategy for driving growth and employment creation. The new industrial units being built by CDP, Wilton and Muse will provide high quality premises for modern manufacturing and related supply chain companies, helping to support and create hundreds of jobs.”
Andrew Grant, Managing Director of Samuel Grant Group said: “”We are excited to get this project underway, and being able to see time lapse progress is immensely exciting. We look forward to the move of our operations and warehousing towards the end of this year.”
Roger Marsh, chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said: “I am delighted to see work start on this significant new development – yet another sign of the real momentum our Enterprise Zone is generating, making it one of the top investment opportunities across the UK as a whole.
“I am particularly pleased that the LEP has been able to provide investment to enable Samuel Grant Group’s expansion plans to go ahead, creating new jobs for local residents and further enhancing the Enterprise Zone’s appeal to other potential investors.”
