The biggest new research and development facility built in York, UK, in the last five years has been acquired by international engineering business Renishaw in a multi-million pound deal.
Redwood House, a 20,000 sq ft purpose-built property at Northminster Business Park, has been sold to the company along with its site by Northminster Ltd.
The two-storey research and development facility was commissioned by eye-safe laser measurement company, Measurement Devices Ltd. (MDL), a subsidiary of the Renishaw Group.
Northminster Ltd started development and planning work on the property, on spare land adjacent to MDL’s existing 6,000 sq ft headquarters at Acer House, Hackness Road, in 2010.
Northminster Ltd managing director, George Burgess, says: “MDL is a world-class technical innovator and manufacturer whose growth would have been welcomed anywhere in the UK.
“We’ve worked closely with the company to deliver exactly what they required as we had the land and development expertise to do so. Our land availability and edge-of-city location meant Northminster was the only York business park able to offer the long sight range for laser testing and enable MDL to remain in its first-choice city.”
“This is the third building MDL has occupied since 2004, which has allowed them to expand their business and increase their floor space by 1,600 per cent in eight years, which is a remarkable achievement.”
The new MDL facility, which has a ‘very good’ BREEAM rating, benefits from air source heat pumps and heat recovery system, rainwater harvesting and movement detection lighting, so lights automatically turn off when rooms are empty; 55 car parking spaces, including two electric car-charging points and ten vehicle car-sharing spaces, all above a sustainable drainage system.
Outside ecological features will include bird nesting boxes, semi-mature trees and a thousand shrubs and plants.
Renishaw’s group manufacturing services director, Gareth Hankins, who worked with Northminster on the development, says: “They went to a lot of trouble to see that we got the building we require on time and within budget, and were very practical and dependable throughout the course of the project. It is a wonderful property and a very good investment for us.”
MDL managing director, Elaine Ball, says: “Northminster Ltd has taken a great deal of care over developing our new facility from the first meeting to hand over and we’re very pleased with what has been achieved which will support our growth plans for many years to come.”
The 18-acre Northminster Business Park, a former distribution facility, was acquired in 1995 and has been developed to become the base for more than 40 local, national and international businesses employing a total of 500 staff.