Crown Business Park taking shape

The joint venture between Barnfield Construction and Centric Property Group said progress is taking shape on its 260,000 sq ft office and industrial scheme near Rochdale.

The JV started work on the first phase in November and Barnfield's in-house groundwork team is putting in the infrastructure of the offices aimed at small businesses.

A sod-turning ceremony was held on 9 March by the JV and its partners including representatives from the Rochdale Development Agency and agents Nolan Redshaw.

Steve Riley, contracts director for Barnfield Construction, said: "The size of Crown Business Park makes it perfect for attracting small to medium enterprise companies to the area, in particular those in the financial and business services sector, creating jobs and boosting the local economy."

Paul Nolan, from Nolan Redshaw, sole agents for the park, added: "It's great to see work start onsite, the first phase will create over 15,000 sq ft of office space and once the second and third phases are complete the site could create up to 650 jobs."

Rochdale Development Agency worked closely with the developers to help them secure part of the funding for the scheme.

The £9.2m first phase is set to be finished by summer 2011.