Member Article

£5m Hebburn industrial development gets green light

100 new industrial jobs could be created at Hebburn’s Monkton Business Park within the next year, after plans for a £5m industrial project were given the go ahead this week.

Leading the project to build three large industrial units at the site, Washington-based Hellens Group will begin work on the site this September with completion expected to take 12 months.

The development will create around 55,000 square feet of new industrial space, comprising of one large unit of 30,000 square feet and two smaller units of 15,000 and 10,000 square feet.

However an option does exist for prospective businesses to combine the two smaller units into a 35,000 square foot facility. Once fully let, the new units will have the capacity to house over 100 jobs.

Hellens Group has been backed with £1.27m from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Local Growth Fund, which aims to help infrastructure projects in the region, to complete the build alongside a £1.7m loan from the North East Investment Fund (NEIF), also administered by the LEP.

Gavin Cordwell-Smith, chief executive at Hellens Group, said: “The development is fantastic news for South Tyneside and the wider region. These new units will offer growing businesses modern manufacturing space with 6-8m eaves height, and good power availability.

“We will work with prospective tenants to develop the internal layout of the units and offer cost-competitive rates on long term leases. We are tremendously appreciative of the support for the project that we’ve had from both South Tyneside Council and the North East LEP.”

Monkton Business Park is already home to a number of companies including Siemens, Hitachi Construction Machinery Ltd, Variable Message Signs (VMS) Ltd, Ford Component Manufacturing, Clugston Construction and Kier North.

Leader of South Tyneside Council, Councillor Iain Malcolm, added: “This is excellent news for South Tyneside, with regional funds from the LEP being used in a targeted way to grow the borough’s business prospects.

“I’m delighted that funding from LEP’s North East Investment Fund and the Local Growth Fund will enable construction of these much-needed units to get underway this year.”

The £270.4m Local Growth Fund, secured as part of the North East Growth Deal, supports the North East LEP’s delivery of the Strategic Economic Plan, which aims to create 100,000 more and better jobs by 2024.

David Land, chair of the North East LEP’s Investment Panel, commented: “Businesses in our region, particularly growing SMEs, are looking for new, state of-the-art facilities.

“Hellens Group has a strong track record in delivering projects and this scheme ticks many of the boxes in the LEP’s priorities and objectives, including supporting enterprise and private sector business growth; and strengthening transport, connectivity and infrastructure in the Region.

“By investing and developing in new infrastructure we can help create more and better jobs for the North East.”