Planning approved to develop New Cooperage at Royal William Yard
Award winning regeneration company Urban Splash has received planning consent to develop a fourth building at the £70 million Royal William Yard project.
The New Cooperage building has been granted Listed building consent for 20,000 sq ft of office and retail use. The plans for the building have been drawn up by Totnes based Gillespie Yunnie architects. Work started on site immediately planning was granted.
Urban Splash will be developing New Cooperage as part of its partnership with the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), which has provided an element of the funding for the project.
The planning application for additional mixed use development at the Yard comes on the back of a series of successful office and leisure lettings within Mills Bakery which was completed in early 2009. Despite the recession some 90% of the 46,308 sq ft commercial and leisure space is now let with new tenants Hoare Lea, Taxibank and Interserve joiningBluestone 360, the Ministry of Defence and the University of Plymouth.
2010 has also seen the successful opening of the first bar/restaurant at the yard with Seco Lounge opening its doors in the summer to rave reviews. Italian chain Prezzo will also be opening their doors in spring 2011 along with a further offer from Seco who are expanding their unit further.
The wealth of deals means that the Yard has established itself as Plymouth’s number one waterfront destination and is attracting many visitors to the site. Earlier in the year the new daily waterbus service between the Yard and the Barbican launched and moorings at the marina were made available for visitors or long term lettings.
Nathan Cornish, director at Urban Splash, added: “Looking back 2010 has been the pivotal year for the Royal William Yard. It has been a hard market to work in, but the stunning buildings, the waterfront location and the historical backdrop has helped us generate a lot of interest and we’ve signed up some fantastic tenants”
“To get planning consent and start on site with a speculative office scheme at New Cooperage in the current climate shows our confidence both in the Plymouth market and in our offer at Royal William Yard. If we can let 90% of the space in Mills Bakery in a recession then it just goes to show that we have a special asset here that we are keen to invest further in”.
“In the past many people have seen the yard as a place for amazing apartments by the waterside. I think that this now shows our commitment to a mix of uses at Royal William Yard which will only add further to the environment that is being created”
Carl Budden, the South West RDA's Head of Regeneration for Plymouth added “This planning consent marks another significant step forward for the Royal William Yard. We believe that the RDA's investment in the Yard and our partnership with Urban Splash over the last ten years has now reached a tipping point, and with the success of the Mills & Bakery development, and the start of works to the New Cooperage, we are beginning to see the Yard realise its huge potential".
Anyone interested in space at Royal William Yard should visit ec2-63-34-210-119.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com/commercial or call the commercial team on 0333 666 0000.
