Abingdon: Milton Park launches new office and lab building as part of £24m development
MEPC, the manager and developer of Milton Park, has announced that 141 Park Drive has been practically completed and is now fully available for occupation. 141 is one of three buildings at the £24 million speculative development, Park Drive East, at Milton Park in Oxfordshire.
141 Park Drive East offers 42,000 sq ft of high quality accommodation. It has been delivered to provide a high degree of flexibility for both office and laboratory users which has recently been unseen in speculative buildings. This is in order to accommodate continuing demand for best-in-class, well-located office and laboratory space in the region, particularly from innovative occupiers, including science and technology businesses embarking on R&D activities.
Park Drive East comprises three buildings (141, 142 and 143 Park Drive) over 110,000 sq ft and is one of the region’s largest speculative office and laboratory developments. Following the practical completion of 141 Park Drive East, completion of 142 and 143, the two hi-tech laboratory facilities totalling 68,000 sq ft, is set to follow in February this year.
Construction work on the three buildings began in February 2017 and, in early summer 2017, MEPC signed a pre-let agreement with existing occupier Oxford Immunotec Global plc, a global NASDAQ-listed, high-growth diagnostics company which took the whole of 143 Park Drive. In September, the Park Drive East development reached its half way milestone, with the work continuing to progress strongly.
Occupiers making an early commitment to the development can apply for business rate discounts of up to £275,000 as part of the Science Vale Enterprise Zone.
Philip Campbell, commercial director for Milton Park at MEPC, said: “We are delighted to announce the practical completion of 141 Park Drive East, which marks another key milestone in the successful delivery of our Park Drive East scheme. Our priority at Milton Park is to create an attractive environment where innovative businesses can thrive and expand, as well as drive job creation and help to bolster the local economy.
“Park Drive East was designed specifically with the requirements of both existing and new occupiers in mind. In recent years, Milton Park has seen almost full occupancy, and Park Drive East has been built to help meet the growing demand for science and business space at both Milton Park and in the wider Oxfordshire area. We’re looking forward to welcoming Oxford Immunotec to the scheme and others who would like to join the Milton Park community.”
David Beckett, partner at SRA, architect for the scheme, said: “MEPC understands the value of providing attractive and adaptable workspaces that fully cater for the broad range of operational needs of its occupiers. 141 is a prime example of this ethos, as it has been designed to provide a range of suites from 5,000 sq ft up to 41,000 sq ft to meet the needs of thriving high-tech science and technology companies.
“As well as achieving BREEAM ‘Excellent’ environmental accreditation and an EPC ‘A’ energy rating, this striking building has been designed to reflect the British Council for Offices ‘Best Practice’ and provide a highly flexible design solution that can cater for the needs of a wide range of laboratory and office occupiers.”
Knight Frank and VSL & Partners are letting agents. Buckingham Group is the main contractor for the development.
