Take part in developing the future of Andover’s Industrial Estates
6 October 2006:
Test Valley Borough Council is currently undertaking the largest consultation of Andover’s business community. It concerns the future of Andover’s main industrial estates, Walworth, East Portway and West Portway. The consultation is the first part of a process to rejuvenate the estates.
Hopefully, if you are an Andover business you will already have received the postal questionnaire asking what you think of the estates and what changes are needed. If you haven’t received a questionnaire please request one from the contact below.
The estates are home to hundreds of businesses, large and small, employing thousands of people. What happens on the estates is vitally important for Andover.
Walworth and Portway are owned by Test Valley Borough Council which grants long headleases to financial institutions, developers and occupiers who then build the industrial premises.
Laid out in the 1970s and 1980s the estates have performed very well. However, over the last couple of years, perhaps triggered by the closure of Ducal on Walworth in 2003, they have begun to show their age. The loss of manufacturing, the requirement for higher specification buildings and other factors have put the estates under pressure.
This is not to say that many companies are not thriving on Andover’s industrial estates –
• On West Portway, Howard Tenens is extending its operation to provide an additional 28,000 square feet of managed warehousing; Banner Joinery have moved into a 10,000 square foot factory, Andolite have taken an additional 5,000 square feet of space and earlier this year Armchair Answercall acquired the majority of Eagle House, the office block that adjoins the new Premier Travel Inn.
• Two of Andover’s major companies, Le Creuset and Stannah Stairlifts, have between them taken some 80,000 square feet of space at the former SSI Schaeffer high bay warehousing on Walworth
• Dreams, Buckingham Concessions, Wessex Fixings, Buildbase have all moved onto Walworth recently; 3 of the 4 former Ducal units taken on and refurbished by UBS at North Way, Walworth have been occupied and many new companies have taken space across all three estates.
However, there are still many available opportunities for industrial and commercial premises at Andover – the details of which are available on the vacant commercial property web site run by Southampton City Council online at www.invest-in-southampton.co.uk, – and more will be done to address this issue in due course.
The current consultation will provide the basis to put together options for the Council to consider later in the year on how best to work with partners to make the industrial estates more attractive places to work and to redevelop land to attract the kind of businesses which Andover needs for the future.
In seeking to represent the views of the business community it is important for all Andover businesses to grasp this opportunity and respond and help shape what happens next.
