Member Article

New £7m Gateshead business park nears completion

Ravensworth Property Development’s £7m Portobello Trade Park, which sits adjacent to the A1(M) in Gateshead, is reaching completion.

Joint letting agents Naylors and HTA Real Estate hosted an agent’s launch at the development last week to unveil this significant new business park.

The development has been partially funded by The North East Local Enterprise Partnership, who agreed to provide a £982,000k loan from the Growing Places North East Investment Fund, the scheme has also received £2.75mfrom the European Regional Development Fund.

Geoff Clark, development manager at Durham-based Ravensworth said: “It’s great to see this landmark scheme nearing completion. The high visibility of the units has resulted in an extraordinary level of enquiries and we are delighted to announce that a third of the scheme is already under offer.”

The development, which is located on a 6.5 acre site north of Washington services at Birtley, provides 15 high quality, light industrial units specifically aimed at new and expanding SME businesses seeking new accommodation, in sizes ranging from 195sqm (2,100sqft) to 2,137sqm (23,000sqft). Once fully occupied the park is expected to support over 200 jobs, in addition to the jobs which have been supported during the construction phase.

Keith Stewart, head of industrial agency at Naylors said: “We have received over 100 enquiries since we first started marketing the scheme and now that interested parties can see the scale and quality of the space available we are starting to convert these enquiries into deals. Interest is primarily coming from distribution businesses and trade counter occupiers who are attracted by the highly prominent location.”

Nick Atkinson of HTA Real Estate added: “There has been a well reported lack of new industrial development in the North East. Portobello Trade Park is the first opportunity since pre-recession times for SME’s to occupy brand new, high quality premises in the Gateshead area.”