10 January 2020
Jon Thorne is one of the founders of B8 Real Estate, a specialist industrial and distribution sector property practice in the North of England. Jon specialises in the disposal and acquisition of industrial properties and sites primarily in the North West of England in addition to providing development and strategic property advice. Here Jon takes a look at the significance of the Port Cheshire site that B8RE is marketing jointly with JLL on behalf of Peel Ports.
More than 200 years ago the legendary engineer Thomas Telford was appointed to create the Ellesmere Canal. So began the area’s long history with the maritime, manufacturing and commercial worlds of the industrial revolution to the modern age.
It’s a story told and celebrated at the National Waterways Museum just down the canal from the Port Cheshire site, which now provides one of the largest single plot development sites in North West England.
The site was acquired by Peel Ports 10 years ago when Bridgewater Paper closed following which Peel Ports decommissioned the paper mill, cleared the site and began preparing it for port-related uses.
Originally, Peel Ports expected that it would be of interest to logistics firms that required a close connection to the Manchester Ship Canal but in the last year or so it’s become clear that there’s more interest from general industrial occupiers. That led to a re-launch strategy for the site to give it a new lease of life starting with a recent event on-site for property agents across multiple sectors, highlighting to the property market the site’s suitability for distribution, manufacturing, processing or open storage.
Just as was the case in the 18th century, location is everything. As well as true multi-modal connections (road, rail and sea), Port Cheshire can boast a working population of 1.9million within a 45 minute drive and there are other major companies close by, including Vauxhall, Regatta, Honeywell, Essor, ProGroup and DHL/JLR which demonstrates that it is an attractive/established location for industry and occupiers.
For more information about Port Cheshire please contact Andrew Martin.