A town’s pledge to create at least 70,000 new jobs by 2031 looks set to be delivered ahead of time — with half that number expected to be filled within the next seven years.
At the crossroads of Britain’s road and rail network, Northampton was recently recognised as one of the UK’s top business locations by Santander Corporate & Commercial Banking’s UK Town and City Index, which cited it’s “diverse local business base and low business costs” as a major attraction.
“The town is also extremely fortunate to have significant development land available to accommodate its ever increasing demand for employment,” explained Richard Baker (pictured), a director at Prop-Search the county’s leading commercial property agents.
Another factor in its post-recession recovery has been the establishment of Northampton’s Waterside Enterprise Zone. With 20 development sites along the banks of River Nene, the zone is the largest in the UK and is already attracting global interest, including Carlsberg’s £60m investment in a new bottling plant.
The Danish brewer is also planning to open a new 640,000sq ft distribution hub at Brackmills Point creating 50 jobs and slated for completion early next year.
German-owned logistics company Dachser has recently taken possession of its new purpose-built facility at Brackmills from Roxhill Developments. The Warwicjshire company purchased the 16.38-acre plot last year, and has been developing a freehold 64,000sq ft cross-dock warehouse, a 114,000sq ft contract logistics warehouse and a two-storey 21,000sq ft office block on the site.
Another distribution project aimed at plugging the “logistics gap” around Northampton and the wider East Midlands region, is being developed by Prologis. It acquired a 19-acre site at Grange Park — in a three-way joint venture with Evander Properties and the British Airways Pension Fund — for £10m with work on a 340,000sq ft speculative warehouse starting shortly.
Up to 70 new jobs are expected to be created at the high performance engineering company Cosworth, as work starts on its new enterprise zone factory. The firm will move into a 38,000sq ft state-of-the-art production unit on the site before the end of the year. The facility will be used to manufacture components and assemble some of the world’s most advanced engines for global automotive clients.
“The sectors currently being targeted for investment in and around Northampton are high-performance engineering, low-carbon and sustainable technology, business and professional services and new enterprise start-ups,” said the Prop-Search director.
The retail sector has also been active, he added, with a number of shopping centres changing hands during the past six months.
DTZ Investment Management acquired the freehold of British Land’s 166,229sq ft St James Retail Park for £53.25m. And Redefine International has purchased the 307,763sq ft Weston Favell Shopping Centre — anchored by a 156,987sq ft Tesco Extra — to the east of Northampton from Aviva for £84m.
“Northampton is bucking the trend and making the UK’s fastest economic recovery,” concluded Baker, “so it remains well placed to attract more world-class brands that will support its growing development and population.”
