Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) has been appointed by IM Properties to help prepare a masterplan for Blythe Valley Park, acquired by the developer last year.
Situated at Junction 4 of the M42, just five minutes from Solihull Town Centre and Birmingham Airport, Blythe Valley Park is the Midlands’ most prominent business park, and was a high profile purchase for IM Properties in 2015.
RLB is acting as project manager and quantity surveyor on the anticipated ten-year masterplan program.
Turning a business park into a mixed-use community
Public consultation for the proposed new plans is underway. The outline planning application will respond to the residential allocation shown in the local plan, and will also reposition the park from a traditional business park concept to a vibrant mixed-use community.
Paul Beeston, partner at RLB said, RLB has extensive experience of strategic land site development and mixed commercial and residential parks, and has been able to deliver significant measurable added value to IM Properties.’
He added,’This includes supporting the IM Properties team in its negotiations with a number of potential occupiers. Our cost modelling from the formation of project briefs has allowed IM Properties to respond positively to this increased interest, and the subsequent first pre-lets are currently moving towards legal agreement.’
The two phases of the site
The Blythe Valley Park site is split into two phases; the first includes 430,000 square feet of existing accommodation spread across 11 buildings, with 44 acres of undeveloped land for future commercial development. The second phase extends to 38 acres of development land, located at the rear of the site.
Both phases have outline permission for about 1.5 million square feet of mainly B1 floorspace, with permission for a hotel and restaurant with sports facility in Phase 1. The existing 122-acre country park, which bounds the site, also forms part of the purchase.
IM Properties first approached RLB in 2014 to help assess the viability of the Business Park purchase. Other consultants on the scheme include Barton Willmore, Stephen George and Partners, THDA, Peter Brett Associates, Cundall and Turley.
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