Beacon Park’s Potential Highlighted With £12 Million Development

At his annual reception at Great Yarmouth Town Hall the Leader of the Council, Barry Coleman, was extremely pleased to announce the signing of a joint venture agreement between the Council, the East of England Development Agency and local developer Wellington Construction that will see a start in the New Year on the construction of a major speculative office and light industrial scheme at Beacon Park.

Barry commented that “this major investment represents the fruition of hard work behind the scenes to meet an emerging demand for smaller new commercial floorspace. It is an exciting step forward in development at the Park and will help demonstrate that Great Yarmouth is well equipped to emerge from the recession more quickly than many areas”.

The office campus to be known as Wellington Park will see over 43,000 sq ft (4,000 sq m) of offices built, fifteen separate units in nine buildings ranging from around 2,300 to 6,000 sq ft (210 to 556 sq m).

Blackfriars Court, over 60,000 sq ft (5,600 sq m) of floorspace for industrial occupiers will comprise four buildings with fifteen separate units ranging from 3,800 to 4,500 sq ft (350 to 423 sq m).

Both developments will be set in the same high standard of parkland landscape already established at Beacon Park, which is now firmly established alongside other premier business locations in the regions a sound and profitable location for new investment.

Philip Oldman of Wellington Construction says “We believe Beacon Park has tremendous potential.  Our previous experience of development of premises of the type proposed has always been very positive and I am aware of a number of companies in Great Yarmouth and the surrounding area, who are very keen to move into prestigious, new premises to suit their business growth.  While we will largely be looking to develop the same specification and quality for each unit we will be happy to talk to occupiers and, where possible, tailor development to their specific needs. Overall I am sure that this development will be a great boost for the Great Yarmouth commercial market and my team is pleased to working with the Council and EEDA on Beacon Park”. Wellington Construction was selected after a competitive exercise seeking a developer with the foresight to commit to speculative development.

This development represents an investment in excess of £12m and a Planning Application will be made in a few days and it is hoped that the first buildings will be available for occupation from the middle of next year.

George Bennett of EEDA was pleased to see the fruition of this agreement and said “we are delighted with the addition of Wellington Construction to the team.  As a business-led organisation we've been working hard to provide extra help for small businesses in these challenging times.  The addition of speculative development in Beacon Park will appeal to smaller occupiers where the supply of readily available space is often critical to their success”.

Barry added that it doesn’t end there “…the New Year should see further announcements for development at Beacon Park to add to the growing community of office, industrial and leisure developments together with private housing. We are working on opportunities to move into Phase 2 of the Park and release further land for the neighbourhood scheme and further housing. And there should also be some surprise news from other businesses with whom negotiations are well advanced”.

Agents for the scheme will be Bycroft Commercial and Arnolds and units will be available on a freehold or leasehold basis. The Paul Robinson Partnership is lead consultant on Planning matters in relation to this new development and the provision of related infrastructure on behalf of the Council and EEDA.