Land Securities and Gazeley - Industrial Development - Milton Keynes, Nova MK
Date: 03 Oct 2003
£300 million super Nova to light up MK industrial market.
Gazeley and Land Securities have joined forces to develop Nova MK, a new £300 million industrial and distribution scheme at Fen Farm, five miles east of central Milton Keynes. An outline planning application has been submitted for 3.39 million sq ft (315,000 sq m) of “large footprint development” on the 241 acre (97.5 hectare) SED Showground site, which is located on the A421 near the M1 motorway.
Nova MK would provide 2.54 million sq ft (236,000 sq m) of new distribution warehousing (B8) with ancillary offices and 850,000 sq ft (79,000 sq m) of general manufacturing (B2) also with ancillary office accommodation. It would be developed in phases, commencing at the A421 frontage, with a minimum plot size of 5 acres (2 hectares).
The site is widely regarded as the best new major distribution opportunity between London and Birmingham and will be developed to industry leading standards of design and innovation.
The scheme will provide a new supply of accommodation for large scale industrial and distribution warehouse operators in Milton Keynes. The success of the City in attracting these uses has resulted in the current supply of suitable land being exhausted. Research undertaken for the developers shows that land in the City suitable for these uses fell from 57 acres (23 hectares) in 1997 to just 10 acres (4 hectares) in 1998 and hit zero in January this year (2003).
The application includes two new roundabouts on the A421 (which provides direct access from the site to Junction 13 of the M1), a further roundabout on the A5130 and various ancillary and spur roads as well as the extension of the Broughton Brook Linear Park. In order to promote more sustainable modes of access new footpaths, leisure routes and cycle paths are also included.
Designed by Milton Keynes-based town planning and urban design consultancy David Lock Associates, the Nova MK masterplan integrates the scheme into the existing surrounding urban area with a new north-south city street – part of a strategic through route envisaged in the emerging Milton Keynes Eastern Expansion Area Development Framework.
The application is the result of nearly ten years input by the joint venture partners, working together with Wilson Connolly plc, which also has an interest in the site. The site was recently allocated for “large footprint employment uses” in the Milton Keynes Local Plan. The developers have worked closely with the City Council to bring this site forward in the right way and at the right time.
A conditional outline consent could be granted in Spring 2004 which would enable the construction of the highway infrastructure and the first unit to start on site later in 2004.
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