Crown Business Park first phase nears completion

Construction of offices within the first phase of a 260,000 sq ft business park in Rochdale is expected to reach practical completion in three months.

A joint venture between Centric Property Group and Barnfield Construction has appointed Jones Lang LaSalle to market the business park, alongside Nolan Redshaw.

The JV acquired an 18-acre site next to Junction 20 of the M62 motorway from Fortis Bank in August last year and planning was granted for 90,000 sq ft of offices and 170,000 sq ft of industrial space.

Paul Nolan, from Nolan Redshaw, said: "The park will be competing with Kingsway but there is nothing quite like it in north Manchester. I think Crown Business Park sets a very high standard in speculative development and we are already working on a couple of enquiries."

The project was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund which provided £3.2m to prepare the brownfield site for the development of a business park.

Total funding from partners amounts to £9.2m, with the land acquired from Fortis Bank totalling £3m and the first phase of the development costing £6.2m.

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

Jones Lang LaSalle said practical completion of construction on 30,000 sq ft of warehouse units at Crown Business Park is due by January 2012, with 20,000 sq ft of offices due in December 2011.