St Modwen given go-ahead for £25mil. expansion at Thurleigh Airfield business park.

St Modwen Developments Ltd, the development arm of St Modwen Properties PLC, has obtained planning consent for the creation of another 40 acres of industrial and office accommodation at its successful Thurleigh Airfield Business Park, near Bedford.

The consent by Bedford Borough Council will enable St Modwen to provide more than 50,000 sq m (538,213 sq ft) of new space on the 1,200 acre former airfield which it acquired from the Ministry of Defence in 1996.

St Modwen has successfully attracted a wide variety of businesses to Thurleigh including research facilities for British Aerospace, vehicle logistics facilities for GE Capital and Richard Lawson, a satellite communications station for Kingston Communications and the UK’s first new corporate motor sport centre for 20 years which is operated by ex-Formula One racing driver Jonathan Palmer.

Peter Robbins of St Modwen Developments, said: “We are building on the impetus already generated by the attraction of numerous businesses to the park which , with the co-operation of Bedford Council, has led to the creation of some 400 jobs, “The scheme is in line with Government policy of regenerating and re-using brownfield sites and we expect the site to offer further development opportunities over the next five years.”

Mr Robbins added that the second phase development of Thurleigh will provide custom-designed accommodation which could be available from early 2002.

For further information contact Peter Robbins of St Modwen on 0121-456-2800. Issued by Paul Raymer of Howle Chapman Raymer (0121-236-7771).