Barberry seals £10M land deal for new advanced manufacturing unit

By Nicky Godding

31 January 2024

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The Business Magazine article image for: Barberry seals £10M land deal for new advanced manufacturing unit

Jon Robinson (centre), development director of Barberry, is joined by Christian Smith (left), of Savills, and Colin Lawrence-Waterhouse, of Cushman & Wakefield, at the development site at Ansty, Coventry

A £10.4 million advanced manufacturing unit is set to be developed in Ansty, Coventry, by commercial property developer Barberry Group following the acquisition of land at one of the region’s leading business parks.

The company has revealed plans to deliver a 50,750 sq ft industrial unit at Ansty Park - which has established itself as a hub for research and development and high-tech manufacturing - after completing the acquisition of the Viggen Way site from Homes England.

Barberry has secured a detailed planning consent following its application to Rugby Borough Council for a manufacturing warehouse built to exceptional ESG standards, targeting EPC A and BREEAM Excellent.

The ‘Golden Triangle’ site is located at the heart of the UK’s advanced manufacturing and logistics Centre of the UK. Ansty Park benefits from direct access to the motorway network via junction two of the M6 and M69. Coventry, Birmingham and East Midlands airports are all within a 40-minute drive. Major occupiers nearby include Rolls-Royce, Fanuc, Cadent, MTC, Meggitt, IPG Photonics and The London Taxi Company.

Jon Robinson, development director at West Midlands-based Barberry, said: “I am extremely excited to announce that we have completed the acquisition of a development site at Viggen Way, Ansty Park. The site has the capability of providing a generous 1 MVA of power and we are very much looking forward to delivering another outstanding advanced manufacturing unit. The building is available for built-to-suit occupier requirements on either a freehold or leasehold basis.

“Ansty Park is a fantastic location for Barberry’s latest development, being one of the most significant business and technology parks in the Midlands. Barberry 50 can be delivered within 12 months of agreeing terms with an occupier and will be built to a market leading specification ideal for a headquarters for research and development or advanced manufacturing businesses. It will be developed with a focus on sustainability to BREEAM Excellent and EPC A standards and provision for electric vehicle charging points in all spaces and the loading yard.”

He added: “This latest significant investment demonstrates Barberry’s continued commitment to the region and the development will help to address the shortage of new, high quality manufacturing accommodation in the West Midlands. New buildings such as this help to create the quality accommodation that local, regional and national businesses need in order to expand their operations within the Midlands, delivering new jobs and attracting investment. We continue to see significant occupier demand for new industrial and warehouse units and we are very much looking forward to working with Savills and Cushman & Wakefield acting as our property agents.”

Christian Smith, director of Savills, said: “This multi-functional industrial unit will bring much-needed stock in this size range to Coventry. It is also one of very few new units in the area to be available freehold as well as leasehold and will only add to the high-quality location that is Ansty Business Park.”

Barberry 50 will add to an already impressive Barberry portfolio in delivering advanced manufacturing facilities having delivered buildings for Moog and IMI TruFlo Marine within the region. Barberry has a 2.4 million sq ft industrial/logistics development pipeline with a Gross Development Value of more than £380 million. The company has 500 acres of strategic residential and employment development land across 12 sites under its control and a growing income producing commercial and residential portfolio.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.