Situated just four miles from the historic Watford Gap, Daventry is a town working hard to close a gap of its own — with commercial and industrial development attempting to keep pass with a record breaking 56 per cent rise in new house sales.
As well as the year-on-year increase of residential properties the Northamptonshire town and its suburbs have also witnessed record numbers of new company registrations. Both factors, claims commercial real estate expert Richard Baker, fed by an “unprecedented level of development and job creation”.
Followings its acquisition of an 18.5-acre site next to the Royal Oak Industrial Estate’s Ford parts distribution centre, logistics developer Gazeley has submitted plans for a 298,000sq ft warehouse facility which, it predicts, will create up to 760 jobs. “In a normal market this would win headlines,” comments the director at commercial agents, Prop-Search, “but in today’s hectic scene, it is easily eclipsed by the golden brightness of the DIRFT scheme some 40 miles away.
“However, there are plenty of multi-million pound developments underway expected to generate hundreds of direct and indirect jobs,” he added. “One of the biggest is the Daventry District Council’s Mulberry Place scheme being delivered in partnership with Henry Boot Developments.”
With on site work expected to start later this year, the project involves the construction of a new shopping centre, cafes, bars and restaurants and a seven-screen cinema. It also includes a replacement for the town’s aging library.
Alongside its Mulberry Place involvement, Henry Boot has unveiled plans for an 80,000 sq ft superstore and petrol station, retail units and 500 parking spaces on land in the Waterloo area of Daventry. The site, north-west of the town centre, would link up with the proposed Daventry WaterSpace development, on land near Eastern Way.
The town’s industrial market is just as active, Baker says. Roofing products specialist, Hambleside Danelaw, is about to be granted permission to extend its flagship headquarters in Long March — which it leases from the local authority — with a 30,000sq ft development. The facility will accommodate a new production line for glass-reinforced plastic rooflights.
HSS Hire, the nationwide supplier of tools, equipment and building services, opened a new branch in Low March earlier this year, “continuing the interest momentum in the industrial units around the town’s estates,” said Baker.
“Freeholds have proved particularly popular with two units on the Royal Oak Industrial Estate both sold to companies relocating to the area — a 10,600sq ft unit has been acquired by a plastics company from Banbury and a 22,000sq ft unit sold to a Warwickshire self-storage firm,” he added.
And to showcase the town’s £175m town centre regeneration and its extensive business support, Daventry District Council has teamed up with Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership to launch a new website: lovedaventry.com
“Whether you are a start-up business or a national company looking to expand,” Baker stresses, “there is a lot to love about Daventry that goes a long way beyond an excellent work-life balance.”
Source: Prop-Search Press Release
Photo: Prop-Search
