Dairy farm turned successful business park seeks final tenant

Ridgefield Business Park, located to the west of Groby, near the M1, is home to four expanding local firms with a combined total of more than 100 staff and a turnover of more than £15m between them, all now based in former farm buildings that have been completely renovated for modern business use.

SDI Displays, Blueberry Products, Secure-A-Field Ltd and GV Landscape Management Ltd have all moved into the premises since the start of the year, thanks to deals facilitated by leading commercial land agents Mather Jamie.

The last available section of the business park is a unique underground passage network based in what used to be a former silage drain for cattle and built from reinforced concrete. The 17,000ft2, naturally climate-controlled passageways are completely secure and would benefit a tenant in need of state-of-the-art storage.

John Barker, owner and Managing Director of Ridgefield Business Park, said, “We think that this final rental opportunity at Ridgefield could be just the thing for a tenant, or tenants, looking to store a large number of items in a safe, secure, humidity-controlled environment, and with easy access for deliveries. It has to be seen to be believed.”

As well as converting and renovating all the former farm buildings, Mr Barker spent more than £100K and worked closely with the local authority in updating the main junction leading to Ridgefield into modern driveways. He has also sold former pasture land surrounding the business park to The National Forest, which is in the middle of a tree planting programme.

Ian Wright, owner and Managing Director of SDI Displays, said, “We had two premises in Coalville and Loughborough and needed to integrate the business. We really liked the rural setting of Ridgefield, plus its links to the M1, and its spacious units will enable us to grow.”

Mat Voss, Operations Manager of commercial landscapers GC Landscape Management Ltd, said, “We were based before at an older site in Appleby Magna, but we needed to move as we’d outgrown those premises and Ridgefield Business Park offered more modern facilities where our offices and storage could be adjacent to each other.”

Oliver Lloyd, Director of fencing and access solutions firm Secure-A-Field, said, “For us the location was absolutely ideal – there’s a new access road which is great for articulated lorries, and it’s very close to the M1 and other main transport links.”

Robert Walmsley, Managing Director of playground equipment manufacturers Blueberry Products, said, “We’d expanded as a company and our former premises in Bardon were no longer adequate. Ridgefield Business Park was the only place that offered the access and size we wanted.”

Alex Reid, Director of Mather Jamie, said, “Ridgefield Business Park is a great example of how a large site can be redeveloped, modernised and completely transformed – in this case from agricultural into commercial production and large scale storage. The rate at which it was filled demonstrates the high demand for commercial property in Leicestershire.”

For details of similar commercial property opportunities in Leicestershire, and elsewhere in the East Midlands, please contact Alex Reid on 01509 233433.

Established in 1991 and based in the East Midlands, Mather Jamie Chartered Surveyors is an independent mixed commercial and agricultural practice with a long established and unrivalled reputation for delivering reliable advice and expertise on residential and commercial developments. For more information please telephone 01509 233433 or visit www.matherjamie.co.uk.