Work starts on new £4.5m business park that will create new jobs in York

Marrtree Investments has begun work on a new 2.4 acre business park on the site of the former B&M store at Clifton Moor in York. The developer will have invested £4.5m in the scheme on completion, which will create 27,000 sq ft of modern business space across four units ranging from 4,000 sq ft to 8,000 sq ft, as well as a Starbucks drive-through café, and will generate dozens of new jobs for the city.

Marrtree Business Park, York, will be the latest in the North Yorkshire-based developer’s portfolio of over 20 business parks, which are located strategically across the north of England. Phase II of the firm’s 70,000 sq ft development at Sowerby Gateway, the new 950-home scheme near Thirsk, was completed in October and is expected to create 40 new jobs for the area.

William Marshall, director of Marrtree Investments, said: “We are really pleased to be bringing more of the high-quality modern business space, for which Marrtree has become well known, to York. Since the pandemic, well-thought-out, ergonomic workplaces, where people actively want to come to work each day, have become more important than ever and that’s what we aim to deliver with all our business parks and the kind of space that is in short supply for York employers.”

The new units are due for completion in the autumn and the developer says there has been considerable interest in the scheme. “We are in conversation already with a number of organisations who are considering either relocating or setting up new operations in the Clifton Moor area of the city,” said Mr Marshall.

“It’s a great location, with excellent road links and with the £65m upgrade to the York outer ring road due to get underway in the next couple of years. There are also great facilities close by, including gyms, restaurants and the Vue cinema.”

Harrogate-based HACS construction group has been appointed as main contractor for the construction of the business park, with the Leeds offices of Colliers, and Cushman & Wakefield appointed as letting agents.

Founded in Bradford in the 1940s, and now run by the third-generation brothers William and George Marshall, the Marrtree Group of companies has operated for over 80 years. With interests in commercial and residential property, quarrying and forestry, the business is now based in Harrogate.