Cooke & Arkwright
News
Central attraction
22/05/08
Cooke & Arkwright has acquired new offices at Robert Hitchins’ speculative development, Central Park on Western Avenue in Bridgend and has sold the first two newly completed units of almost 5,000 sq ft to Daydream Education, which is relocating from Cardiff. Another two units of 5,000 sq ft have just been signed to Ebtek and two further units are under offer.
Cooke & Arkwright, which presently employs about 70 staff at its offices in Cardiff and Bridgend, has taken 4,500 sq ft of newly refurbished and air conditioned suites on the ground floor of One Central Park, in what is just its third move during over 65 years in Bridgend. First established in 1900, the firm opened its first office in Court Road in 1943, followed by a move to Park Street in 1946 and then to Western Avenue in 2004.
One Central Park, formerly known as Bayer Lodge, was acquired along with the surrounding six acre site by Robert Hitchins Ltd in 2007, since which time the developer has embarked upon a substantial speculative scheme involving over 65,000 sq ft of industrial space and 20,000 sq ft research and development (R&D) units. Work is expected to be completed in autumn, 2008.
Jeremy Symons, director of Cooke & Arkwright’s industrial agency, who is acting on behalf of Robert Hitchins Ltd with joint agent Alder King, said “The attraction for us and Daydream Education was that the new scheme provides a first rate working environment and the flexibility to design bespoke accommodation to meet future needs.”
“This is an excellent move for our growing company which is rapidly increasing market share,” said Wes Paetel, operations director at Daydream Education, the UK’s leading provider of interactive classroom aides for young children. The company employs ten people in Bridgend, with the potential for further job creation during the next 12 months. It was named ‘Supplier of the Year 2008: between £1m and £3m turnover’ category at the prestigious Education Resource Awards in March.
“Central Park is in a good location and is significantly easier to access from the M4 and other parts of South Wales compared to where we were in the centre of Cardiff,” said Mr Paetel.
Mr Symons said that he anticipated that Central Park would be sold out within the short term. “It offers some of the best quality accommodation in Bridgend that is available for sale on a freehold basis,” he said. “We have already received significant interest during the construction phase and this is good news for Bridgend.”
Pictured, top l to r: Rod Perons, Chris Hyde, John Day (on steps), Julian Golunski, Tim Lawley, Lloyd Newland and Joanna Kingman, all Cooke & Arkwright
Above: Jeremy Symons, Cooke & Arkwright; Lucy King, Alder King; Clare Wall, Chris Malcolm, Wes Paetel and Huw Williams, all Daydream Education