More details have been announced regarding the future development and expansion of Europarc, the single most important business park in North East Lincolnshire.
The park’s owners, The Wykeland Group, say work is about to start during the summer on the infrastructure for the Europarc Village, the next major phase of the development and which will ultimately include a range of leisure facilities, including a restaurant, pub and hotel as well as more business and commercial space. Europarc began to take shape in 2000 and has been a steady magnet for inward investment and local businesses looking to expand and relocate. Some 2,000 people work on the estate, which is widely regarded as the region’s landmark business park.
Currently, all built property, which ranges from 1,200 sq. ft. to 100,000 sq. ft., is at its highest occupancy rate since 2007.
Hull-based Wykeland Group purchased the remaining development land from Yorkshire Forward in 2011 and has since been granted outline planning permission for the remaining 46 acres of development land with detailed planning consent for a 10,000 sq.ft. manufacturing and warehousing unit. The company’s managing director, Dominic Gibbons, said: “The new outline consent was an absolute priority and having this in place for the next 10 years will give potential occupiers great confidence that we are in a position to develop the remaining land and continue to invest in this important site”.
He added: “The next phase of our Europarc masterplan is to create a village which will eventually incorporate restaurants, a hotel and a nursery, the type of facilities needed if we are to continue to attract inward investors and indigenous companies with potential for growth and job creation. We are already talking to a number of possible operators for these facilities. “North East Lincolnshire Council is pushing hard to promote Grimsby as Europe’s Food Town and the only land of any significance available for large-scale development is Europarc. In addition, we are offering a very flexible model to potential occupiers by making freehold and leasehold arrangements available.
“The growth of the region’s renewables industry is vitally important in terms of investment and job creation and we want to make sure we are doing everything in our power to help attract more companies to Grimsby and the surrounding area. We have an in-house team of professionals, including architect, planning manager and project managers to work with potential Europarc newcomers and assist their decision making”.
Formed in 1969, the Wykeland Group is one of the largest developers of commercial land in the North of England, having developed more than 10.5m sq. ft. of property of which almost 2m remains in its portfolio. In addition to the £80m Europarc project, the company is currently developing the 100-acre Melton West Business Park alongside the A63 in East Yorkshire, the £100m Bridgehead Business Park at Hessle and the £120m mixed use regeneration scheme at Flemingate, Beverley.
Councillor Shaw, Leader and Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Assets at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “Europarc has been our landmark business park for over ten years. It was designed to offer businesses excellent infrastructure and facilities, attracting inward investors to the area and enabling local businesses to develop. We are working closely with Wykeland and fully support the expansion and development of the facility and look forward to seeing the completion of the Europarc Village. “A lot has changed both locally and nationally since the park opened but it still continues to be a thriving business hub. Big names based here include Morrisons, Daniels Food Group, Auto Trail, Yara UK Ltd and Ultimate Packaging to name but a few.
“The Morrisons investment last May was fantastic news for the area and its state of the art facility now distributes products from Grimsby to more than 450 supermarkets across the UK. It also created 200 direct new jobs, with further positions being secured within the wider supply chain, demonstrating how Europarc continues to attract major, multi-million pound investment from national corporations.” Jason Longhurst, Head of Development at NELC, said: “We welcome the next phase of development at Europarc to attract further investment and enable local businesses to expand.
“The council’s development service aims to unlock the area’s growth potential, capitalising on our key advantages and creating the right environment to enable sustainable business growth and create employment opportunities. The expansion of the Europarc facility is an example of one way in which we are doing this and working with the private sector, such as Wykeland, is key to enable us to unlock this potential.”
Pictured is the Wykeland team of Ivan Hinchliffe, Planning Manager, Managing Director Dominic Gibbons and Rob Richardson, Asset Manager.
