Goods yard buyers in vow to transform site

St Modwen Developments Ltd has bought the former Tolladine goods yard in Worcester, which at 23.4 acres or 9.45 hectares, is the city's biggest brownfield site. The company has been responsible for buying, and then selling, Reindeer Court in the city centre and Shrub Hill Retail Parks, and still holds the Shrub Hill and Gregorys Bank industrial estates. St Modwen has revealed that it bought the Tolladine site, from BRB (Residuary) Ltd for £3.5m - this is on top of £22m already invested in the city.

Alan Williams, investment property director of St Modwen, said the scheme was an important one for Worcester. He added: "We are particularly pleased to have purchased this well-located site in Worcester, which we are re-branding as The Great Western Business Park. It is close to our existing Shrub Hill Industrial Estate and will enable us to offer high-quality design and build units to our existing tenants and other Worcester-based businesses, for which we know there is good demand.

"We expect it to be fully developed within the next two years, but first we have to construct a new road access and demolish a bridge over Tolladine Road, which will transform and regenerate this neglected but important employment site." Mr Williams said it was too early to give specifics, such as the sort of companies that would occupy the site, the design of buildings, and the number of car parking spaces. It is thought a planning application containing these details will be submitted at the end of August. In its heyday, the disused Tolladine goods yard was a significant centre for railway activity.

Melissa Wase-Rogers, the selling agent and surveyor at Lambert Smith Hampton, said: "There is a shortage of industrial development land throughout Worcestershire and the whole of the West Midlands, so a large, well-situation site, close to a local working population, attracted a great deal of interest among potential purchasers."