Less than three weeks after it announced the signing of two more tenants at its 70-acre Burnley Bridge Business Park, the Eshton Group says its expects to see its turnover top £10m by 2016.
The Guisley-based developer — currently reporting a turnover of just one-million pounds — is predicting the surge in its fortunes because of a “boost in confidence and an increasingly buoyant” industrial market.
“There are a lot of opportunities available at the moment and there’s certainly a lot more confidence about,” explained James Chapman, who founded the firm with his brother Jonathan in 2001. “We’ve seen a big increase in enquiries and for us, the industrial sector is the most buoyant at the moment.”
Concentrating on its home county of Yorkshire the group currently has four major projects underway. The biggest is the development of its £50m Burnley Bridge Business Park which received £3.85m in support from the European Regional Development Fund.
In June Eshton confirmed that Wakefield-based electrical wholesaler, YESSS Electrical, has agreed to take a 6,500 sq ft. unit at Magnesium Court, a logistics scheme next to Junction 9 of the M65 motorway.
And earlier this month it secured two more tenants: Birchall Foodservice, which is moving to the 64,100 sq ft Cobalt Building, and Equinox Building Services which has agreed terms on a 3,500 sq ft unit at Magnesium Court.
“We are thrilled to have attracted three landmark tenants in such a short period of time,” said managing director James Chapman. “We are in advanced talks with several other local, regional and national operators and hope to make further announcements in the near future.”
Eshton is also developing a 1.5-acre site on Hull’s Clough Road, where it is planning a mixed 20,000 sq ft of leisure complex linked to 5,000 sq ft of new shopping space. “A well-known pub chain is already interested in taking the site,” added Chapman.
In Hebden Bridge, the group is working on the former West Yorkshire market town’s fire station site with a 4,000 sq ft retail development and in Birstall it is behind Springwell 27, an eight-acre site off the M62 motorway, which recently received planning consent for its 40,000 sq ft third phase development.
The Eshton Group’s confidence echoes a Savills report, released last week, which described Yorkshire as a “land of opportunity” for the property market.
In its 2014 to 2018 forecast, the real estate services provider predicts that commercial rental growth in Leeds, York and Harrogate will easily outperform the national average. It also expects there to be opportunities to close the gap in value for secondary commercial properties, where yields have yet to reach their full potential.
“Small edge of city industrial estates, large regional warehouses and major shopping centres will see a boost in interest and activity,” said Mat Oakley, head of commercial research at Savills. “Demand is also currently exceeding supply for bulky goods retail warehousing.”
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