Express & Star

Wednesbury's Britannia Park is fully let following £1m warehouse project

The property arm of one of the UK's oldest family businesses has fully let a Black Country industrial estate after spending £1 million to invest a warehouse.

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The expanded unit at Britannia Park Estate in Wednesbury.

Folkes Properties – of the Folkes Holdings group – has fully let its Britannia Park Estate in Wednesbury.

It follows a £1m investment in Unit 1, which has undergone an extensive, 19,000 sq ft, extension carried out by Halesowen-based A&H Construction. The project took the total unit space to 65,500 sq ft, the largest on the Britannia Park estate.

The current tenant, distribution and outsourcing giant Bunzl UK, has extended its lease after Folkes funded the refurbishment cost.

The last remaining building on the estate, Unit 6, has also been let, to Traffic Management Products. After significant investment and refurbishment of the unit by Folkes, TMP decided to take the 15,264 sq ft unit on a 10-year lease.

Dan Robinson, managing director of Traffic Management Products, said: “Britannia Park offers a wide range of good quality business space on a secure site and its location makes it very convenient for the major road networks.”

He continued, “We have been delighted with the service we have received from Folkes Properties.”

Adam Priest, asset management director at Folkes Properties, said the improvements were undertaken as part of their active management programme.

“We are very pleased with the work carried out at Britannia Park and pride ourselves on investing into the maintenance of our property portfolio to ensure the highest standards are reached for the benefit of our tenants and also to help attract new occupiers to our estates and properties.”

The site is located on Trident Drive, Wednesbury , near to the main A41 Black Country New Road. Other tenants include Amazon, Solus (London) and Indesit.

The Folkes family business was established over 300 years ago in engineering based companies. Folkes Holdings is privately owned by the Folkes family and the majority shareholder, Con Folkes, is the eighth generation to lead the group as chairman and chief executive. The group was listed on the London Stock Exchange until taken private by the Folkes family in 2002.

Today, the business holds its core focus in commercial real estate, and operates a geographical split between the UK and South Africa.