Building work starts on £3m warehouse project at Thorp Arch Estate

Construction work is underway on a multi-million pound expansion of Ash Way at Thorp Arch Estate, near Wetherby.

Four speculative units are being built for the development’s owner, Rockspring Hanover Property Unit Trust, alongside a fifth pre-let to wholesale confectionery firm Bon Bon’s.

The £3m project will deliver an additional 48,000 sq ft of light industrial space at Thorp Arch.

The unit secured by Bon Bon’s, which first moved to Unit 1 Ash Way in 2014, comprises 15,000 sq ft.

Of the remaining four speculative warehouses, two will span 6,000 sq ft, one 9,000 sq ft and the other 12,000 sq ft.

All will feature seven-metre eaves, up-and-over loading doors, office areas, LED lighting, loading yards and individual fibre broadband connections.

Thorp Arch Estate is managed by Wharfedale Property Management.

Tim Munns, director of Wharfedale, said: “There is a considerable demand from businesses wishing to come here and the new Ash Way units will help meet this need.

“We are already receiving interest from potential occupiers who are impressed that the fibre is being installed as part of the build.”

He continued: “Bon Bon’s is a top-class national business with an important link to Yorkshire’s confectionery history and we are delighted that the company has agreed to become the first tenant in this exciting new development.”

Bon Bon’s was established in in 2007 by its general manager Mark Rowntree, great-grandson of confectionery entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph Rowntree.

Mark commented: “We are probably the UK’s largest hand-packing confectionery business and the additional space will allow us to re-organise our operation to provide more packing capacity in our existing unit and to use the new premises, which is now under construction, entirely as a bulk holding and dispatch warehouse.

“Wharfedale Property Management has been very supportive in helping us to expand. Thorp Arch Estate is a great location, Ash Way is an exciting scheme and we are looking forward to moving into our new unit in December.”

York-based property and construction consultants LHL Group and building firm Lindum Group Ltd, also based in York, are delivering the latest phase of construction at Ash Way.

The new units will be ready for occupation by the end of January 2019.