Drone helps market new ‘state of art’ warehouse
One of the country’s most accessible distribution sites has turned to drone technology to help market a `state of the art` highly-sustainable warehouse which is seeking its first occupiers.
CONNEQT Alpha is a 153,800 sq ft unit with 16 loading doors on the Kingswood Lakeside Business Park in Cannock, beside the M6 toll motorway. Owned by Bridges Fund Management and Opus Land, it was completed last month and is now available for occupation.
Cannock Chase Council is one of several partners supporting the development of the Kingswood Lakeside site, which aims to create 425 jobs when fully completed.
Kingswood Lakeside was the first project to receive backing from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) investment fund. The site was previously an open-cast mine which opened in 1939 and closed in 1959. It has been under development since 2002.
Two industrial units covering 14 acres and 283,000 sq ft, of which CONNEQT Alpha is the first, with CONNEQT Beta to be built next, received £7million in funding from the Combined Investment Fund (CIF). Other funding, of £1.73million, has come from the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership; and from Opus Land’s joint venture partner Bridges Fund Management, a specialist sustainable and impact investor.
The land on which the park sits was owned by Staffordshire County Council.
Councillor Gordon Alcott, Economic Development and Planning Portfolio Leader at Cannock Chase Council said: “Kingswood Lakeside is proving to be a great success story. The site is already home to leading national companies including DHL, Unilever, Veolia, APC and HellermanTyton.
“The CONNEQT buildings are clear evidence of the increasing confidence being shown in the District, whether as a great location for companies to serve the UK or as place to find a skilled and dedicated workforce.”