Barker-Mill Estates prides itself on investing in the local community and champions efforts being made across the region to build and celebrate economic prosperity.
For instance, back in 2013, Barker-Mill Estates worked with supermarket giant, Lidl to plan and build a state-of-the-art distribution centre on land next to the M271, an investment in the region of £50 million. The centre which created 400 jobs, was designed to bring increased efficiency and an improved carbon footprint to Lidl’s distribution network in the South. The project also provided additional highway improvements and over 2.5 hectares of landscaping work including tree planting to improve the aesthetics of the installation.
Over the years, Barker-Mill Estates has also worked tirelessly to provide innovative business spaces in the heart of the county. One example includes Adanac Park, encompassing land bordering the M271 which was remastered into a thriving complex of offices, business units and homes. As part of this project, in 2010, Barker-Mill Estates worked with Ordnance Survey to deliver their headquarters, costing in the region of £35-40 million. The Rateable Value of their premises (£1,880,000) means the Council can retain £926,840 per annum to inject back in to the community. An adjoining childcare nursery was also developed and with a Rateable Value of £44,000, the amount retained by the Council is £21,692 per annum.
The plans for the undeveloped parcels of land on either side of the Ordnance Survey headquarters, named Adanac Park, involved reworking the spaces to allow incoming or local expanding companies to set up bespoke offices, industrial and storage operations.
Spanning a huge 31.7 hectares (78.3 acres) the Adanac Park site also includes Bargain Farm, which extends the project to a further 8.32 ha (20.6 acres). Public consultation is currently underway to provide a Lidl supermarket, care home and hospital park and ride and health campus.
When fully developed the £80-90 million investment in to the Adanac Park project is expected to provide 75,000 sqm of additional commercial development potentially resulting in business rates in the region of £4 million per annum.
