Land acquisition to create 5000 jobs in ‘milestone deal’ for East Yorkshire

Yorkshire-based Wykeland Group has announced a land purchase agreement that could lead to the creation of 5,000 new jobs.

The commercial property developer bought 230 acres at its flagship Melton development in East Yorkshire from Birmingham’s St Modwen.

Marking Wykeland’s largest land acquisition to date, the deal covers 100 acres of development land, 95 of farmland and 35 of woodland.

The company plans to merge the development land with the adjacent Meltonwest mixed-use business park, which will create a 200-acre commercial cluster targeting blue-chip brands.

Once complete, the site will be one of the biggest business parks in the Yorkshire and Humber region, offering 29.6 million sq ft of space with an end value of over £200m and the potential to employ more than 5,000 jobs.

Meltonwest comprises 700,000 sq ft of space for businesses, which employ around 1,100 staff on site.

An aerial view of Meltonwest and Melton Park

Wykeland MD Dominic Gibbons said: “This is our largest ever acquisition in terms of land area, so it’s a milestone deal for the business.

“The potential of Melton Park has been known to us for many years, so we are delighted that we have now been able to add it to our growing development pipeline.”

He continued: “This acquisition creates a unique opportunity to capitalise on the success of Meltonwest and demonstrates our strong confidence in the region’s economy, particularly the manufacturing, warehousing and distribution sectors, for which the Melton site is ideal.

“We aim to develop the site over the next decade and we’re looking at the potential for some speculative development in 2019.”

The development land will be geared towards industrial, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution firms.

Wykeland said the woodland, which includes part of the Wolds Way, has the potential for recreational uses.

Mr Gibbons explained: “Our intention is to work with partners to enhance the woodland area and create opportunities for workers across the expanded business park to use it for leisure and exercise, supporting the efforts of businesses based on site to promote employee wellbeing.”

The Melton Park deal has taken the value of Wykeland’s Yorkshire and Humber development pipeline to almost £400m.