Ripon’s Potter Group announces £25m investment plan

Ripon-based business park operator Potter Group has announced plans to invest £25m as part of a major rebrand that will reflect the company’s new direction.

Established as a haulier in 1965, the company sold its logistics operations to Preston-based WH Bowker in 2016 so it could focus on its collection of business parks around the UK. It has now rebranded as Potter Space to reflect the new focus, and will spend the next five years using the new money to improve its various assets.

Potter Space currently manages more than 250 acres’ worth of commercial space, with parks in Ripon, Knowsley, Droitwich, Ely and Selby. In 2000, the company made a substantial investment to provide three of its sites with direct rail links to the UK’s main ports and the Channel Tunnel, boosting its rail freight operation.

Speaking about the rebrand, Potter Space’s executive chairman, Derrick Potter, said: “I had a wonderful 50 years building the Potter Group into an award-winning logistics company. However, after much deliberation, we made the strategic decision to sell the logistics operation so that we could concentrate all our efforts on developing the business parks.

“The launch of Potter Space is an exciting new chapter in the company’s history and I am looking forward to working with the new generation in helping to deliver first class commercial business parks across the country.”

In September, Potter Space pre-let a speculative 25,000 sq. ft unit on its A1M50 Industrial and Distribution Park near Ripon, which is a 10-acre extension to its 42-acre Melmerby Industrial Estate. Work has now started on another 25,000 sq. ft unit, which the company claims is already attracting interest.

The firm is also working with Selby District Council, following the government’s agreement to invest £9m on new infrastructure at Olympia Park, which includes a new link road to improve access routes to Potter Space’s facility.