Wykeland seals major deal to expand flagship business park

Hull commercial property developer Wykeland Group has sealed its largest land purchase to allow the expansion of one of its flagship projects.

A total of 230 acres has been acquired at the Melton Park site in East Yorkshire in a multi-million pound deal.

It includes 100 acres of development land, 95 acres of farmland and 35 acres of woodland, purchased from Birmingham property company St Modwen.

Wykeland plans to merge the development land with neighbouring Meltonwest mixed-use business park to create a 200-acre commercial cluster and meet strong demand from blue chip brands to join the community of businesses based there.

It will create one of Yorkshire and the Humber’s largest business parks, offering a total of 2.75m sq ft of space with an end value of more than £200 million and an employment potential of more than 5,000 jobs.

Meltonwest already has 700,000 sq ft of completed development, with about 1,100 people employed at the site. Leading businesses located at Meltonwest include Heron Foods, generator manufacturer Allam Marine, shower maker Kohler Mira and Needlers, the UK’s leading supplier of safety and hygiene products to the food manufacturing industry.

Plans have been submitted by Wykeland and Lister Group for a £10 million Mercedes-Benz dealership for Listers at Meltonwest.

Wykeland’s flagship Meltonwest development features a series of leading businesses, including Heron Foods, Allam Marine, Kohler Mira and Needlers.

Wykeland managing director Dominic Gibbons said: “This is our largest-ever acquisition in terms of land area, so it is a milestone deal for the business.

“The potential of Melton Park has been known to us for many years, so we are delighted that we have now been able to add it to our growing development pipeline.

“This acquisition creates a unique opportunity to capitalise on the success of Meltonwest and demonstrates our strong confidence in the region’s economy, particularly the manufacturing, warehousing and distribution sectors, for which the Melton site is ideal.

“We aim to develop the site over the next decade and we’re looking at the potential for some speculative development in 2019.”

The development land is zoned for industrial, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution uses and offers investors a prime location on the A63, a major route linking Hull and the Humber ports with West, South and North Yorkshire and the national motorway network, via the M62.

The presence of the woodland, which includes a section of the Wolds Way, offers the potential for recreational uses being incorporated within development of the site.

The Melton Park purchase takes the value of Wykeland’s development pipeline across Yorkshire and the Humber to almost £400 million. The group is working with Beal Homes and Hull City Council to create Hull’s first urban village in the Fruit Market waterfront quarter to transform a near-derelict area into a vibrant commercial, cultural and residential community.