Red Scar Business Park near Junction 31A of the M6 at Preston is currently seeing its` highest levels of occupancy in over a decade.
Richard Hargreaves, Commercial Property Manager, at Landlords Tustin Developments commented, “Working with our letting agents, Robert Pinkus & Co and HDAK, 2016 saw us let virtually all our available business space with over 42,000 sq ft let in 15 deals ranging from 500-6000 sq ft.
Last year we constructed Fulwell Court comprising 16,000sq.ft.of new business units, and this space let successfully and consequently we took the decision to obtain planning for Ribble Court. Phase 1 of this scheme will complete in March, and will see 28,000 sq ft of business space constructed which will be available in multiples of between 2000-12,000 sq ft situated in a landscaped, courtyard setting. We have already pre-let around a quarter of the space to an existing expanding customer on the Business Park and are close to instructing solicitors on two more lettings of 3,500 sq ft and 4,000 sq ft respectively. Along with the new space that we are building, we also have around 35 acres of development land,with Red Scar being one of the few sites in the North West with planning in place to satisfy requirements for substantial warehouse units on a design and build basis.
There undoubtedly remains a shortage of good quality space in the Preston area, we do not at this stage anticipate a slow down in demand post Brexit, so will most likely press ahead with phase 2 of Ribble Court in 2017. Even if a slowdown does occur we may still benefit from external companies looking to downsize.
The growth in local companies is pleasing to see from an economic and employment generation perspective, an example being N Palmer Deliveries who have expanded with us from a 1200 sq ft unit into a 5,000 sq ft unit, with a significant increase in staff numbers.”
