More deals have been completed at Ivygrove Development’s Sawley Park industrial site in Derby to the point where it is almost finished.
Only three plots remain out of 30 units on the site at Nottingham Road, just below Cemetery Hill, which will have a £6m value when it is due to be finished next summer.
Beeston-headquartered integrated building solutions company J. Tomlinson, which was recently awarded a 10-year contract by Derwent Living housing association has bought a unit to act as a depot for this work.
But many of the occupiers have come from other sites across Derby, with owners keen to possess their own premises rather than rent.
Materials Engineering Group, which has been based at the RTC Centre on London Road, for a number of years, has bought two units for their engineering and training activities.
Manufacturer Fen UK, which deals in machines and consumables for woodworking, initially bought one unit and then another to allow it to expand.
Other city companies that have bought units include Origin Energy and Shaws of Derby.
A total of 12 units have been sold over six months, which reflects confidence in improving market conditions.
Ivygrove chairman John Blount said that Sawley Park had proved popular because few developers, if any are building small industrial units and Sawley Park was ideal for such development.
“The circular feeder road enables large lorries to enter and leave the site without difficult manoeuvres,” he said. “The modern and attractive design of the buildings was also instrumental in attracting interest.”
Ivygrove, based at Racecourse Industrial Park, Mansfield Road, Derby, specialises in regenerating industrial sites and building speculative units for sale or rent. In the case of Sawley Park, Ivygrove bought the site in May 2009 from Rolls-Royce, which owned Sawley Packaging.
Buildings, dating back to the late 19th century, took up more than 100,000 sq ft of the four acre site. They started life as a lace mill for William Fletcher and later produced elastic webbing and then boots. They had been empty for two years, vandalised, and were beyond saving.
Work on building the units on the park, which is less than a mile from the city centre, started in 2012.The remaining sites at Sawley Park are all attracting inquiries.
Stephen Salloway, selling agent for the scheme, said: “We have been delighted with the progress of this scheme and sales have taken place at a steady rate, with a significant increase in the last few months.
“This development has been a crucial contribution to Derby’s industrial property market during challenging economic times.
“John and Ivygrove are to be commended for going ahead with such a scheme when other developers were far more cautious.”
