Member Article

Approved Food expands in Sheffield

Property expert Knight Frank has overseen a 60,000 sq ft expansion move in South Yorkshire for popular online retailer Approved Food, the main operating division of the Approved Group.

Knight Frank’s Building Consultancy team used its experience for the Sheffield head-quartered online retailer by sourcing, surveying and refurbishing an existing city centre-based warehouse in Darnall for the company’s relocation to a bigger base in the region.

The Sheffield-based team undertook a four month-long project to locate and manage the expansion into the warehouse on Parkway Close just off The Parkway with a five year-long lease secured for landlord MCR.

Knight Frank partner Daniel Green said: “Once a suitable property had been sourced by our Agency team, our Building Consultancy role essentially became a twofold exercise. The first part was to agree a works schedule for the landlord to bring the property into a satisfactory state for occupation. This included addressing roof repairs, forming goods access openings to perimeter elevations, reinstalling services, making good floors, redecorations and the refurbishment of the ancillary offices.

“The second part, following completion of the landlord’s works, was completing a schedule of condition for appending to the lease. This 1980s unit was brought back to life for this move and therefore a record of its condition, post landlord’s works, was considered essential so the new tenant avoided liability for historic disrepair.”

Approved Food’s new warehouse replaces its former 20,000 sq ft warehousing facility in Dinnington.

Andy Needham, Director at Approved Food, added: “Occupying premises such as this means we can now satisfy a greater demand across the UK. It will also allow us to significantly expand our product range and add further on-line shops to expand our market for example in confectionery, pet products, continental foods and gluten free products. We were extremely pleased with the efforts of the Knight Frank team. It will be a proud moment to officially move into our new warehouse later this week.”

Approved Food is the largest online retailer of short dated and residual stock food and drinks. The majority of its stock is short-dated or past its best before date which allows it to buy in large quantities and pass savings on to its customers.

Founder Dan Cluderay started off as a market trader in Hull and Doncaster before establishing Approved Food as a purely on-line retailer in 2009. This move is the fourth undertaken since then, each time tripling the space available.

It now boasts thousands of savvy customers, delivering over 110,000 orders last year with a turnover in excess of £4m and industry recognition from far and wide.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Beaumont .