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DEADLINE NEARS
IN PRIDE PARK BIDDING
Copyright © www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk
[ October 29th 2001 ]
There
are just 24 hours left for businesses to bid for
the final few acres of Derby's world-renowned
Pride Park development. Derby City Council entered
into a final campaign to market the land last
month following the completion of the Wilmorton
link road on September 7.
The road
opened up access to the last 21.5 acres of undeveloped
land at the site. The deadline for bids for plots,
ranging from 1.5 acres to 12.3 acres, is tomorrow.
The number of businesses that move onto the land
will depend upon how many tenders the council
receives and how much land each company wants
to occupy. It is hoped that businesses will bring
with them the promise of jobs for Derby people.
Chris
Williamson, deputy leader of the city council,
said: "Pride Park is a huge success in terms of
the number of companies it has attracted and jobs
it has created. We would hope that new companies
which move onto the final pieces of land will
provide jobs, which would be a huge boost especially
considering the recent announcement of redundancies
at Rolls-Royce." R-R announced 5,000 job losses
earlier this month with 1,900 expected in Derby.
The tender
document sent out to firms contains no guideline
as to how much the council expects to sell the
land for. Recent land sales, however, have ranged
between £200,000 and £300,000 per acre, meaning
that the council could make more than £6m from
the sale of the final 21.5 acres. Michael Foote,
the council's director of corporate services,
said that bidders would all take professional
advice and would be aware of the approximate market
value.
The bids
are being collected by Derby-based commercial
property agent Innes England, which will report
back to the council after tomorrow's deadline.
Russell Rigby, of Innes England, said: "We have
been talking seriously to around 20 different
companies who have intimated that they are going
to try to co-operate with getting an offer in
by tomorrow." Mr Rigby said that bids were likely
to include restaurants, car showrooms, offices,
manufacturing and warehouses.
Pride
Park was once the site of the city's gas works,
heavy engineering works, a gravel extraction site
and a landfill site. The council commissioned
the design and implementation of a phased reclamation
of contaminated land there in 1993. The project
has received a national Business Commitment to
the Environment award, it featured in an Expo
in Hanover, and Derby has been invited to address
a European Soil and Land conference in Osnabruck,
Germany.
Pride
Park has attracted a variety of businesses. Internet
bank Egg occupies 260,000 sq ft of office space,
while David Lloyd Leisure and Derby County Football
Club take up significant sites. It also contains
motor dealerships and offices for Software AG,
Eidos and AEA Technology.
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