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A year in the life of Rainton Bridge Business Park

7 October 2011

Rainton Bridge is one of the north east’s best performing business parks, having welcomed five new occupiers in the last year. Since last September more than 2,200 people have relocated to the park, which is owned, developed and managed by integrated property group Goodman, in partnership with Sunderland City Council. This partnership has helped to make Rainton Bridge one of the region's biggest success stories of recent years.

The Park has more than 400,000 sq ft of commercial property space, developed across seven buildings, with a further 20 acres of developable land still available. It is located in one of the most competitive business locations in the UK, close to Sunderland and Durham on the A690.

To support the rapidly expanding Park several new bus services were launched last year to provide direct links between Rainton Bridge Business Park and Newcastle, Gateshead, Washington and Peterlee, complementing existing services from Sunderland, Durham and Houghton-le-Spring.

In a challenging economic climate  Goodman has worked to try and adapt the Business Park to cater for local needs.

Earlier this year Goodman invested more than £130,000 at Alexander House, making it an ideal location for firms based in the north east which are looking to grow. The three storey, 40,000 sq ft Alexander House has been divided into smaller units, ranging between 4,000 and 13,000 sq ft, allowing up to six companies to be accommodated within  the building.

The layout of the new units means that SMEs occupying Alexander House will now be able to experience the benefits of a state-of-the-art office building while enjoying the flexibility offered by a smaller, practical unit suited to their needs.

Rainton Bridge also houses the e.volve centre, Sunderland City Council’s 50,000 sq.ft. incubator accommodation for growing technology companies.

Niall McGilp, regional development director for Goodman, said: “Over the past 12 months, Rainton Bridge Business Park has become one of Goodman’s biggest success stories. We have built on the regional expertise and knowledge gained through the development of the nearby Doxford International Business Park and are on course to repeat this success at Rainton Bridge.

“We realise that many companies are operating in a challenging economic environment and require a flexible solution for their business premises. We’ve listened to potential occupiers and responded to their demands.

“To cope with demand we invested in the subdivision of our three storey Alexander House building which will allow a number of companies to move to the Business Park, providing tailor made office space for clients that may already have a presence in the north- east but need extra space to expand.

“With 60,000 sq ft of space still available we hope that the positive experience of our occupiers continues to act  as a catalyst to attract a second wave of companies in the next 12 months.”

 

New occupiers at Rainton Bridge Business Park since September 2010:

 

RWE npower                         (2000 jobs – September 2010)

  • Rainton Bridge Business Park has welcomed RWE npower, which officially opened its 230,000 sq ft new Rainton House facility almost exactly 12 months ago. RWE npower bought the building that had originally been built for Northern Rock, after the lease for its old offices in Newcastle expired.

 

Leighton Group        (85 jobs – October 2010)

  • Leighton Group, the parent company of six subsidiary IT and design companies, moved its entire operation into 8,866 sq ft at the Chase Building, Rainton Bridge Business Park on a five year lease last autumn. The company’s rapid expansion over the past three years prompted the relocation of its 85 staff to Rainton Bridge Business Park.

 

UKIM                          (80 jobs – April 2011)

  • UK Independent Medical Services Ltd, one of the UK’s largest medico legal report providers and part of the US company and NYSE listed, ExamWorks Inc., has taken more than 13,000 square feet of modern office space on a 10-year lease  at Rainton Bridge Business Park .

 

SIG Combibloc          (20 jobs – June 2011)

  • Leading international property group, Goodman has secured a new lease with the UK arm of SIG Combibloc, one of the world's leading system suppliers of carton packaging and filling machines for beverages and food. The company has underlined its growth intentions by taking more than 5,000 square feet of modern office space on a 10-year lease at Rainton Bridge Business Park near Houghton-le-Spring.

 

Bowmer and Kirkland (Autumn 2011)

·         One of the UK’s largest privately owned construction firms, Bowmer & Kirkland is set to occupy nearly 4,000 square feet of the second floor of Alexander House for its new North East Regional office in October this year. The firm was Goodman’s contractor on the successful subdivision project at Alexander House and also constructed all the business units at Rainton Bridge including Alexander House.