Commercial developer acquires Parkgate Industrial Estate land after striking deal with Oliver Valves

The 16 acre patch at the estate’s eastern edge was acquired by industrial developer Chancerygate last week, with aims to build industrial and warehouse units.

Following reassurances that the land will be developed for commercial use, there has already been early interest.

Mike Walker, development director for Chancerygate in the north west, said: “This is one of the prime locations in South Manchester and Cheshire that we have been targeting and the planned 300,000 sq ft development that we are going to undertake will be of interest to a number of national and local businesses.

“We have already had strong occupier interest.

“The first phase of speculative development will provide around 85,000 sq ft of industrial and warehousing space in units of various sizes which will be able to accommodate a wide spectrum of end users.”

Global manufacturer Oliver Valves Ltd, a world leader in the production of underwater valves, has confirmed that it has no intention of leaving its headquarters in Knutsford.

Financial controller Steve Valentine said: “The land itself is the far end of the estate, the development land.

“We acquired it as a business three years ago, as an opportunistic purchase. This opportunity has come up and the market is right, so we have had several interested parties all looking to bring more jobs into the area.

“There was an area just to the north of here acquired for housing, but this is definitely a commercial development.”

Mr Valentine added that the company’s strong engineering base had enabled it to continue to perform well in a difficult time for its market in general.

The new project adds to Chancerygate’s current UK development pipeline of around 2.2 million sq ft.

Oliver Valves was represented in the sale by Gerald Eve while Chancerygate was advised by Williams Sillitoe. Both agents have been retained as agents on the new development.