Member Article

Thorp Arch business park scheme fully let with jobs created

Harrogate-based developer Marrtree has reported that its 20,000 sq ft business park next to Thorp Arch Estate near Wetherby is now fully let, less than 12 months after construction was completed.

The £1.6m development of 2,000 sq ft - 4,000 sq ft units is now let to seven businesses and employs more than 30 people. Tenant firms at the new Marrtree business park include Blacks Visual, which designs and manufactures window and in-store displays for retailers such as Mulberry, Lacoste and Topshop. Other tenants include Chasing Cars, a retro vehicle specialist, and Sandersons Removals.

Susan Stamp, co-owner of Mitsubishi engines UK distributor Diamond Diesels, a 30-year-old business which relocated from Sherburn in Elmet to a 2,200 sq ft unit at the Thorp Arch business park in 2019, said: “We were one of the first tenants to move in and have been at the Marrtree site for almost a year now. It has been a hugely positive move for us: the modern, safe, accessible and clean office and warehouse space means a vastly improved working environment for our team of four staff and a smart place for our customers to visit us.”

Marrtree director William Marshall said: “We are proud to be the only privately owned developer to have constructed a new business park at Thorp Arch. As a developer we are all about creating high quality 21st century workspaces that enable our tenant businesses to thrive.

“Thorp Arch’s proximity to the A1(M) motorway makes it a brilliant location and we were not surprised to have let all seven units within 12 months of completion.”

Marrtree’s business park portfolio now includes 19 sites across the north of England, including at Knaresborough, Doncaster and Castleford. The £6m Marrtree Business Park at Sowerby Gateway close to the A1 in Thirsk will be the firm’s 20th site when the first - 38,000 sq ft - phase is completed at the end of this year. Construction of the first 15 units got underway in January.

Founded in Bradford in the 1940s, and now run by the third-generation brothers William and George Marshall, the Marrtree group of companies has operated for over 60 years. With interests in commercial and residential property, quarrying and forestry, the business is now based in Harrogate.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Kilmurray .