South Yorkshire’s six-million square foot iPort scheme has been named as Britain’s largest commercial development — overtaking Merseyside’s massive Wirral Waters regeneration scheme and the Stratford City project to extend the 2012 Olympic Games’ site.
The top slot comes after the latest round of planning permissions were granted for the £300m development on the former Rossington Colliery site — known as iPort — near Doncaster.
“The announcement that the iPort development is the largest project with planning permission in the UK speaks volumes about the exciting times that lie ahead for Doncaster,” commented the town’s mayor, Ros Jones. “This development will play a key role in meeting the council’s promise to bring new jobs to Doncaster.
“The immense scale of the development emphasises the commitment of both Doncaster Council and its partners Verdion to delivering economic growth in our borough and the wider area,” she added.
In addition to its six-millionsq ftof rail-linked distribution warehousing, iPort will also offer an inter-modal container facility, providing buildings for major retailers and third party logistics companies with both direct motorway access and direct rail-to-port container services. Each building, including the customs clearance and bonded warehouses, will average one-million sq ft with the potential for inter-linked expansion.
Verdion’s chief executive, Michael Hughes, is equally confident of iPort’s success. “The Verdion team is now pushing ahead with marketing of the iPort to potential occupiers, and are confident of the scheme providing around 5,000 jobs for the Doncaster area,” he said.
Earlier this year Gent Visick, CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield were named as joint letting agents by Verdion for the inland port project, which is being funded in partnership with the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. The first buildings are expected to be available for occupation at the beginning of 2015.
“This strategic rail freight interchange will offer the very best in UK and European logistics design and building quality,” Hughes added. “The letting agents have been selected for a strong combination of both expert local market knowledge and unrivalled client relationships with Europe’s largest retailers, e-tailers and logistics companies.”
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