The North-East’s biggest property investment and development company has started the next phase of the multi-million refurbishment of its Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate.
So far UK Land Estates — which owns more 1,300 units across 40 regional industrial and commercial complexes — has invested almost £2.5m to upgrade 12 of the smaller units on its Tyne Tunnel site, including new roofs and external cladding and office refurbishment.
Work has also finished on the former Marks & Spencer logistics depot, which now offers 103,311 sq ft of flexible manufacturing and distribution space together with 6,568 sq ft of attached office floorspace.
The latest stage includes a 46,000 sq ft pre-let engineering and educational facility for North Shields-based Chirton Engineering. Part financed by the Regional Growth Fund, the company has also secured Government-backed Let’s Grow funding of £200k to help in the purchase of new machines.
The educational element of the building will provide training for apprentices with education support coming from North Tyneside Council, Tyne Metropolitan College, Tyne North Training and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and will form part of the pioneering North-East Advanced Manufacturing Academy.
Chirton’s refurbished premises will be stripped back to the original steel frame and rebuilt using modern materials. Part of the scheme will include the installation of a biomass fuelled heating system to reduce the building’s carbon footprint.
UK Land Estates’ director, Adrian Bartle, commented: “We have worked extensively with Chirton Engineering over the last 12 months to fully understand their business and ensure they have the ideal premises to keep the company on course to double their turnover within the next three years.”
Mark Proudlock is the logistics and industrial associate at Knight Frank’s Newcastle office. He believes UK Land Estates’ upgrade programme has generated considerable interest with a number of lettings already completed including those signed by Nitelites and Fox Head, which each took 5,750 sq ft, and Office Team which leased 11,500 sq ft on the estate.
“This level of interest, despite a challenging market, suggests that there is definite demand for the right product,” said Proudlock. “The Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate has a great location being situated so close to the now twinned and enlarged Tyne Tunnel which transformed connectivity north and south of the river and creating even stronger appeal for this location.”
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