Warwickshire News Mine

In June 2005 work began to expand Warwickshire County Council’s Business Centre in Rugby and now it has five more large business units to offer.

The Sir Frank Whittle Business Centre, which aims to create perfect conditions for small businesses to grow and prosper in a supportive environment, was initially constructed as a business incubation centre in 1994.

Named after the late Sir Frank Whittle who invented the jet engine, the centre expanded three years later when the county council added 13 business units to the already 22 strong centre.

The new and final stage of the development is primarily to provide expansion space for businesses that started off in the original centre.

The centre, which has already accommodated 85 businesses and is directly responsible for generating 474 jobs, will be able to offer a further 6500 square feet of lettable floor space, creating 40 business units in total.

The centre meets a whole spectrum of business needs from small start-up units available at low rent on a monthly licence agreement to larger units available for lease and designed for established businesses.

Occupancy in the centre has consistently been above 90% and all tenants in the complex can take advantage of the photocopying, fax, telephone answering services and meeting rooms available in the centre, along with access to IT and training facilities in the Business Resource Centre.

The latest developments are the final stages of the improvement of the Great Central Industrial Estate and to mark the occasion the keys to the new units will be handed over to their new tenants in a formal ceremony at the site.

Darren Thomas of Bluecode Labelling Technology Limited said: “We originally became tenants in August 1997 and then moved into a unit twice the size a little under a year later. In order to keep expand my business activity I needed to purchase a new label production unit. The expansion of the site has enable me to do this and I am moving into a much larger unit to house my press following this development.”

Stewart Ashton of The Printing Works Limited said: “We have been in the centre since 1995 but have moved into a larger unit twice since then and now operate from two units. Because of the expansion at the centre we have been able to move into one large unit and purchase of a bigger printing press with additional features.”

Mike Smith of M C S Parts Limited said: “We deal with spares for the mining industry, and have been planning our expansion for the last 4 years. We are eagerly waiting to moving into the new unit, which will allow us to develop our business and increase our range of stock.”

David S Williams, County Economic Development Officer said: “This expansion is excellent news for Rugby’s small business community and the county as a whole. It will mean that we can support more businesses at the centre and provide a range of units to support them through the whole of their early stages of development.”

For more information call the business centre on 01788 551500 or visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/businesscentres

Link to WCC