Speculative development work starts at Kingsditch trade park, Cheltenham

Published by

Nicky Godding

Work has started on a 14-unit trade counter and industrial and warehousing development on the Kingsditch Trade and Industrial Estate, Cheltenham.

The 4.5-acre development, to be called Festival Trade Park, is on the corner of Wymans Lane and Runnings Road. The 14 units will range from 3,487 to 34,981 sq ft with nine being trade counter and the remainder industrial or warehouse units.

Festival Trade Park is being developed by a joint venture (JV) between industrial developer and asset manager Chancerygate and international real estate firm Hines. The JV acquired the site from clothing brand Superdry. Prior to Superdry occupying the site in 2015 it was home to food packaging company Vibixa.

Demolition of the existing buildings on the site is currently underway and Chancerygate and Hines are tendering for a main contractor to build the development. All 14 units are expected to be available for occupation in in the first quarter of 2021.

Festival Trade Park, Chancerygate development director, George Dickens, said: “There has been very little speculative development of industrial and trade counter units in Cheltenham over the last ten years. Festival Trade Park will provide the town and region with much needed, high quality space in an established trading estate.

“We have already had a number of initial enquiries from interested parties. Now work is underway we will enter into more advanced discussions with potential occupiers about how we can work with them to make Festival Trade Park the best place for them to further grow their businesses.”

Chancerygate and Hines launched their JV in September 2018. It currently has six schemes with a gross development value totalling around £107m, comprising 753,711 sq ft across Cheltenham and further developments in Birmingham, Warrington, Nottingham, Tonbridge and Bournemouth.

Greg Cooper, Hines UK director of industrial and logistics, added: “We are pleased to have started work on this speculative development which we believe will bring much needed light industrial and warehouse space to the region. Early interest from potential occupiers has been encouraging and we look forward to completing the development and securing our first tenants in due course.”

The site selling agent was Richard Knightley and Festival Trade Park’s marketing agents are Colliers, KBW and Alder King.

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.