Warrington must offer more than just business parks. That is the view of the Warrington Annual Property Review for 2010, released this month. The review has been compiled by Warrington based property consultancy BE Group and provides an overview on movements in the commercial and industrial property market.
Over the course of the last twenty or so years Warrington has redeveloped itself, with the ambition of becoming the North West’s commercial property hub. It is easy to see why Warrington harbors this desire. Just two years ago Warrington was placed in the top ten for employment growth during the last decade. Although employment growth has tailed off since then, the borough still has the 12th highest employment rate in the country.
Situated just twenty minutes from the regions two established commercial powerhouses of, Manchester and Liverpool, Warrington can offer an alternative to the gridlocked traffic found in these city centres.
The main criticism of Warrington, though, is that it is a place devolved of character, the landscape a sea of business parks, which have sprouted over the past few decades. But it is hoped this will soon change. BE Group Director, Vince Sandwell, said when presenting the recent report: ‘The criticism has always been that Warrington has business space but nothing else, but that is changing. Orford Park is coming to fruition, which is a major Olympic legacy project, Decathlon starts on site with its store next month and the council will be choosing its partner for the major development of the Bridge Street Quarter in June.’
This criticism appears to have been taken into consideration during the past 12 months, with the report declaring: ‘Warrington’s business parks witnessed no new developments, At Birchwood Park the emphasis was on the improvement of the existing buildings and amenity areas.’
So, despite excellent growth during the last decade, Warrington must continue to evolve. If it is to realise its dream of becoming the North West’s premium commercial destination, Warrington must offer a much improved commercial retail property market
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