Property agents appointed to promote £200m Yorkshire Energy Park

Two commercial property agents have been appointed to promote the proposed £200m Yorkshire Energy Park.

GVA, the national real estate advisor, and Hull-based Garness Jones will look to secure additional national and international end users at the park, which has the potential to create more than 1,000 new jobs.

The announcement follows on from energy supplier E.ON, Almax, IBM, L&G Investment Management, SSE Utilities, ZTE, Vodafone, and education provider Hull College announcing their support for the energy park plans.

The scheme, which is located within the boundary of Preston South village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, could generate a multi-million pound investment boost for the Yorkshire and Humber economy.

David Garness, managing director at Garness Jones in Hull, said: “Due to the scale and affordable energy, the Yorkshire Energy Park gives us a real opportunity to bring inward investment.

“My confidence in the city and region attracting investment and business is massively higher than it was a year ago. We can sell our location and it has very good ingredients.

“The Hull and Humber market has many existing occupiers and there will be an element of opportunity for them to grow. But there will be businesses which are growing and prospering, which are also looking for a location with the benefits that Hull has to offer, and this will be attractive to them.

“This is a genuine high profile offer set in a parkland environment and the east of the city is important because it’s very much a manufacturing heartland, so it will bring good opportunities in that respect.

“The Yorkshire Energy Park will generate significant efficiencies and savings for occupiers and is on a strategic site located in the heart of the UK’s energy estuary.”

Developer Sewell and Eco Parks Developments Ltd have partnered with Chiltern, a renewable energy, infrastructure and technology project facilitator, to deliver the proposed scheme.

The Yorkshire Energy Park is set to bring together low carbon energy generation and storage, education and training, and energy intensive industries such as information technology and food processing, on one site.

Roger Lown, senior director at GVA, commented: “On site energy generation will give the Yorkshire Energy Park a significant competitive advantage. There is an opportunity for occupiers to make substantial savings in their energy budgets.

“We see this as being particularly attractive to high energy use businesses. GVA is delighted to be involved in this high profile project.”

An outline planning application was submitted for the Yorkshire Energy Park in May. Work on the Yorkshire Energy Park could begin in early 2018.

Chris Turner, chairman of the Yorkshire Energy Park Development Company and Chiltern Group, said: “GVA and Garness Jones are the best national and local agents in the country for this kind of project.

“Chiltern has been working with GVA for several years on highly complicated, large scale projects and they have an in-depth understanding of the energy occupier market, as well as a very strong team. Garness Jones come highly recommended and were selected as a result of a rigorous interview process.

“The Yorkshire Energy Park will provide secure, economical storage solutions for occupiers with large energy requirements and provide them with a choice of carrier neutral and dual resilient high speed fibre network connectivity options.”