BAM appointed for next stage of Dunsbury Business Park in Havant, Portsmouth
Hemel Hempstead, 1 December 2020 - Further development of the major Portsmouth commercial hub, Dunsbury Business Park, has been sparked as a new client has been attracted by the highly successful hub. Portsmouth City Council, working through Procure Partnerships, has appointed BAM Construction and BAM Design to create the fifth unit at the 45-acre business Park which was formerly farm land. BAM Design is also the masterplan architect for the business park.
Unit five will be a 10,000 m2 industrial warehouse and 750 m2 office which is being taken by Bio Pure Technologies Ltd, part of the high-end industrial /pharmaceutical pipework specialist Watson-Marlow. The company’s products are highly valued by customers in the biopharmaceutical sector, a sector which has been at the forefront of news during the global pandemic. The building will be ready for production in 2022 when it will create around 120 new manufacturing and engineering jobs.
The circa £12.5 million works follow the creation of three other units by BAM that are now occupied by 3M Fat Face, VW, and DPD UK. The new facility is the largest of the plots to be developed so far.
The development of the business park began in 2016. The Portsmouth City Council-owned business park is expected to generate millions of pounds of rental income for the authority.
Kevin Hudson, the council's head of development, said: ‘This is the largest development of a dedicated manufacturing facility on the south coast this year. It's also the biggest new warehouse facility to be built on the south coast since BAM built a global headquarters for international clothing brand Fat Face in 2017 - also at Dunsbury Park.’
John Rixon, Commercial Manager for BAM’s South East team, said: ‘This is an interesting appointment for us because Portsmouth has used Procure Partnerships, and it is a direct appointment for us. Our enabling works across the whole of the business park put us in an excellent position to compete for each unit, but we have to prove the quality and value of what we do each time. Its pleasing to build on a strong relationship with Portsmouth City Council and on the strong track record we have down here on the south coast.’
Phil Osborne, Procure Partnerships Key Account Manager, said: ‘We are delighted to be supporting BAM and Portsmouth City Council on the further development of Dunsbury Business Park. Procure Partnerships is proud to support local investment and it is fantastic to see new jobs being created in Portsmouth through schemes like Unit 5. This scheme is helping a local firm to expand and it has been a pleasure support Portsmouth City Council in appointing the right contractor for the project; hopefully Portsmouth can continue to attract investment for years to come.’
BAM has been on site in preparation for works commencing while the final contractual elements were agreed and is now commencing works in earnest.
BAM’s work in and around Havant over the past ten years includes Havant Academy, Somerstown Community Hub, Park Community School and Portsmouth UTC, along with several other elements of the business park. In total, this is close to £150 million pounds in construction value. https://dunsburypark.co.uk/about-dunsbury/