Approval for 800,000 sq ft Radway Green

Regeneration developer St Francis Group and landowner Tilstone Industrial have been given the green light for their Crewe industrial development on 40 acres previously owned by BAE Systems.

Having lodged plans for the 803,000 sq ft scheme last summer, Cheshire East Council approved the project at a strategic planning meeting earlier this week. 

Tilstone, Warehouse Reit’s investment advisor, and St Francis won detailed consent for Units 1,2 and 6, comprising 208,000 sq ft, 143,000 sq ft and 22,000 sq ft respectively – Unit 6 being divisible into units of 10,000 sq ft, 7,000 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft. 

Of the remaining three units, Unit 3 is mapped out at 240,000 sq ft, Unit 4 at 65,000 sq ft and Unit 5 at 125,000 sq ft, making for a combined 430,000 sq ft for which outline consent was secured.

Infrastructure improvements, including work around the site’s access off Radway Green Road, also form part of the scheme. 

The developers aim to complete the development, known as Radway 16, by the end of 2021. 

The land, designated for employment land under Cheshire East’s Local Plan, is part of a larger site that used to house a Royal Ordnance factory supplying vital munitions during World War Two, and which was acquired by defence firm BAE Systems in 1987 for continued production of bullets and other ammunition. 

The plot that St Francis and Tilstone are to develop is no longer owned by BAE Systems and has already been cleared. 

The joint letting agents for the scheme are Gerald Eve, DTRE and Savills, and BHP Design is the project’s architect.