Work has started on Dandara’s 40-acre City South office development near Aberdeen, with the award-winning developer hoping to have the speculative scheme fully serviced and its first tenants installed by Christmas.
The first phase of the international business park — adjacent to the A90 trunk road— consists of 35,000sq ft of office space spread across five pavilions. Individual unit sizes will range from 3,500 to 15,000sq ft.
“High quality office accommodation remains in seriously short supply in Aberdeen, and delivering the finished product as well as design-and-build options for an expectant marketplace is our key driver in taking City South forward,” explained Neil Young, commercial development director at Dandara.
Previously known as Axcess Business Park, his company acquired the site from the Stewart Milne Group. Outline planning permissions were already in place, with the land zoned for development by the finalised Aberdeen Local Development Plan.
When completed City South will consist of 600,000sq ft of offices, commercial and retail units. The site will also include public amenities such as a nursery and on-site leisure facilities such as gymnasium, running tracks and sports pitch. “We recognise the increasing emphasis occupiers are placing on provision of wide ranging staff facilities in the ever-changing and competitive commercial marketplace,” added Young.
Convinced that demand in the property market in north-east of Scotland would continue to rise, he said his company had “developed a detailed master plan for City South to ensure we can meet the demands of modern occupiers” and was now investing more than £10m to press ahead with the initial stage of the scheme.
“Following the completion of the first phase at City South, we have a three year development plan which will include continued construction of high quality office pavilions on a speculative basis, construction of high scale headquarters and provision of amenities.
“It is crucial for the ongoing growth of the region’s economy that we retain existing and attract new company operational headquarters and, occupying a key position on the approach to Aberdeen, City South offers an ideal location from which to do business,” said Young.
Dandara is also building a 50,000sq ft office and factory project at Westhill, seven miles west of the city, pre-let to Bibby Offshore Ltd and IKM Testing UK Ltd.
