BUILDING work on new £9m business units at Thorp Arch Estate, near Wetherby - the biggest new development in the estate's 60 year history - will start next month (March 2004).

Work will start at the 385-acre business and retail estate in the `golden triangle' between Leeds, York and Harrogate after Leeds City Council planners backed plans for 52 new units.

The scheme, by business park development specialists, Arlington Development Management, for the estate owners, Hanover Property Unit Trust, will ease the shortage of business units on the estate near the A1.

Preparation work is in hand for the first phases of two separate schemes to build small business units and larger workshops and warehouses.

The two first phases will see 21 new small business units totalling 31, 024 sq ft and five larger warehouse and workshop units totalling 44,284 sq ft. The small units will be for lease and the larger workshops for lease or purchase.

Both first phases will be ready by October 2004 and will offer businesses the choice of a range of units from 1, 150 sq ft, for start-ups or micro businesses, to 12,000 sq ft for larger enterprises.

Paul Crabtree, an associate at international property consultants, King Sturge, Leeds, who are seeking occupiers and purchasers for the new units, says: "Everyone involved with this exciting development is delighted that work is about to start after working closely with Leeds City Council planners to shape the scheme and obtain permission.

"These will be brand new, modern, high-specification units which will meet pent-up demand on the estate and in the surrounding conurbations for facilities of this type and we are looking forward to handling enquiries."

The estate is set in an attractive, secure parkland setting and has a thriving business community with a 120,000 sq ft retail park, which was one of the first out-of-town shopping centres in the North when it opened in 1959, and a diverse range of 120 small enterprises which operate throughout the UK and employ more than 2,500 people.

Director of Wharfedale Property Management Ltd, Bob Ellis, who manages the estate for Hanover Property Unit Trust, says: "This is a crucial stage in the development of the estate which is an increasingly popular business location already accommodating an average of 16 new businesses a year.

"Our closeness to the A1 motorway network and Leeds-Bradford Airport provide excellent communications nationally and this, combined with our attractive rural setting, makes the estate a popular alternative to being based in a busy, congested city."

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