We have completed the sale of our 4.5 acre Totton Business Park site to supermarket operator Aldi for the development of a combined food-store and small unit industrial scheme, a planning application for which will be submitted shortly.

We purchased the former farmyard site in late 2018 and have obtained detailed planning consent for a three-unit industrial development of 60,000 sq ft.

The site is in a prominent position fronting the A36 in Totton close to the Calmore Industrial Estate and adjacent to the AFC Totton Football Club ground.

Jeremy Aitchison said “Aldi made us a compelling unconditional offer for the site. We have worked hard over the last two years of ownership to add value to what has been a challenging development site.

This sale allows us to concentrate on our other industrial schemes at Cambridge, Eastleigh, Tottenham, Petersfield and Eastbourne.

We are very pleased to have been able to contribute to this Freeport bid.  Which, if successful, will bring a boost to the local and UK-wide economy.

https://www.businessmag.co.uk/solent-lep-submits-2-billion-freeport-bid/

We are thrilled to announce that we received unanimous votes to approve the planning permission for our masterplan application at Eastleigh Works.  The team all worked very hard on this application on a very tricky site and we are very pleased with how impressed the council members were with the application.

We are very keen to retain the local amenity while still improving the site for its employees and for our client.  Going forward our aim will be to erect the acoustic fence as fast as possible to protect our neighbours as well as working with our prospective tenants to develop the new estate road on site.

We are pleased to announce that we have reached PC on phase 3 at Mowlem Trading Estate, Tottenham. This was a major refurbishment of 12 units to the rear of the Estate having reconstructed the estate during phase 1 and 2.

We were able to press through the challenges of Covid and we are very pleased with the result.

Thank you to all of the team involved: HBS Construct, Savills Project Management, Name Sutton, PRC, Brian Bulfin, Cubbed Bentley

We have just submitted a full planning application for Phase 1 of our development at Bourn Quarter and outline application for Phase 2 of the development.

The application for development of the former Gestamp factory site at Bourn Airfield is for up to 26,757sqm/288,000sqft of commercial floorspace purposes (use class B1c light industry, B1b research and development and B8 warehouse and distribution with supplementary use classes A3 restaurant and café, D1 day nursery/creche, D2 gym), associated car parking and service yards, and landscaping.

Phase 1 comprises 15 units of 16,074sqm/173,010sqft GEA of commercial floorspace.  Phase 2 comprises the development of up to a total of 10,580sqm/113,910sqft GEA of commercial floorspace.

We have gone out to tender and are hoping to commence construction later this year and already have serious interest from local business for one of the larger units.

A belated thank you to everyone who joined us for our End of Summer Bash in October 2019 in the BMW Motorrad showroom, Park Lane.

We enjoyed fab catering from Caiger and Co who put on a few German treats for us; all was expertly organised by Gemma Kelly Productions.

Here are a few photos of the night:

Aitch Dev End of Summer Bash

We are pleased to have just submitted a planning application for our Eastleigh Works development. The application area covers 5.2 Ha and includes the works site to the south and access works to the northern area of the site.

The planning application also contains:

• 2,444 sqm of B1c, B2, B8 floorspace.
• Up to 2.4 hectares of temporary and permanent open storage space.
• An acoustic fence running the boundary between the site and the residential part of Campbell Road the options for which were discussed at an on site meeting with residents in September 2019.
• Road Widening near the Campbell Road bridge including a pavement running from the existing pavement by gate 2a up to the bridge, this will include a pedestrian refuge near the bridge and opening up of the steps down to Parkway House. This will mean that there will be a continuous pavement from the houses in Campbell Road right up to the bridge.
• Demolition of a disused building attached to Parkway house
• A new access to Parkway House to improve visibility and improve the camber of the road.

Aitchison Developments are sponsoring the Sailing Sophies on their mission to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.  Sophie Ainsworth and Sophie Weguelin have been teamed since March 2018 and already have a world ranking of 6th in their class.  They are sailing the 49erFX, the fastest ladies boat in the Olympics.

We are holding a public exhibition on the 6th November and we welcome local residents to come along and hear about the redevelopment plans for the former Thyssen Krupp site in Bourn. We will be at the Caldecote Village Hall between 3pm and 8pm. All information displayed during that exhibition will be made live on the website on the 6th November.

We have recently acquired this 4 unit trade counter development site in conjunction with Wynnstay Properties. The development has existing planning consent and is adjacent to other trade counter occupiers such as Howdens, City Plumbing, The Fascia Place and Travis Perkins.

Aitchison Developments has recently been appointed by Corporate Clients of Savills Investment Management to assess future asset management and redevelopment opportunities on their recently acquired site in Eastleigh. The majority of the 47-acre site is made up of railway sidings and associated engine sheds that are currently used by businesses that restores and repairs rolling stock. The remainder of the site consists of 7 older industrial warehouses, 2 office blocks and several acres of open storage. The property adjoins Southampton Airport and is close to both the M27 and M3.

On the 1st of February Aitchison Developments celebrated its first anniversary at Brindisa in Soho where Tapas, beer, wine, sherry and cocktails were enjoyed by all. 90 guests attended including fund managers, agents, architects, lawyers and contractors who are currently involved in the 8 developments that Aitchison Developments are working on. Eleven graduates also attended the event, from both Reading and Oxford Brookes, so that they could meet prospective employers in the industry. Balloons from the party were spotted the next day flying from the top of The Royal Thames Yacht Club flagstaff! Jeremy Aitchison commented ‘We really wanted to thank those that have helped us through very busy first year so we invited everyone from the site foreman through to the fund manager – I think everyone appreciated the mix and the grads added a certain amount of ‘youth’ to the occasion. We will do this again’.

Link to Flickr for images of the party: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmeggSRE

Work has just begun on phase 3 of this 30-unit trade park. Recent lettings to Screwfix. The Facia Place, Tool Station and clients of JLL have completed the line-up of phase 3 which is now 100% pre let. Jeremy Aitchison commented ‘This estate has been remarkably successful is attracting most of the trade park operators even though it has no main road frontage, reflecting the scarcity of suitable sites in this area of London and the added value enjoyed by these businesses co-locating’

The roof is nearly complete on the new 35,000 sq ft unit which has been pre let to Bunzl. Strong winds in January presented Harmonix the contractor with a challenge to get the roof on and cladding complete – however they managed it well and have done a great job in keeping to the program. Practical completion is targeted for June with work on the 6 remaining units starting in July.

Corporate pension fund clients of Savills Investment Management advised by Aitchison Developments and Savills have acquired strategic development land at Bourn Airfield on St Neots Road, Cambridge.

Comprising 25 acres (10 hectares), the cleared site, which was previously made up of aircraft hangars and a manufacturing facility, is immediately adjacent to the proposed new settlement at Bourn Airfield that forms a major part of South Cambridgeshire’s Local Plan for increased residential development around the city of Cambridge.

Graham Brown, director in the industrial & logistics team at Savills, comments: This plot at Bourn Airfield provided an excellent opportunity to acquire space that is likely to satisfy both strong demand, whilst also helping to tackle the current shortage of employment land in the local area.”

Lucy Winterburn, Director of Investment at Savills IM comments ‘Bourn is set to see considerable change in the short term as plans to develop a new settlement work their way through the planning system. Our site is primed to offer a new commercial location complimentary to that wider scheme which will appeal to a variety of occupiers’.

Aitchison Developments have been appointed to undertake an assessment of the asset management opportunities at Shrub Hill Retail Park in Worcester, for corporate clients of Savills Investment Management. This is an exciting project to revitalise this edge of town centre retail park where units are currently let to Wickes, Just for Pet’s, Home Bargains, Majestic Wine, Pizza Hut, Subway and Carphone Warehouse.