Portsmouth Partnership - Industrial Development - Portsmouth

Date: 12 Aug 2008

A £6.5m business park built on derelict industrial land in the heart of Portsmouth has called 'full house' on phase one.

Partnership Park - a three-acre site between St Mary's Hospital and Portsmouth FC's ground at Fratton Park - is being transformed Portsmouth & SE Hampshire Partnership, which is the landlord and developer.

Headed up by executive director Martin Dennison, the organisation is dedicated to economic development and regeneration in and around Portsmouth.

All eight business units for developing businesses at phase one in Rodney Road are now occupied following the latest signing.

Taps-to-toilets supplier Venice Bath, which employs four people and directly imports bathroom fittings from China, has signed up to a ten-year lease at Unit 6.

The annual rent for the 2,921 sq ft mid-terrace premises, with a mezzanine floor, is £20,000.

Partnership Park is a job-creation scheme of 60,000 sq ft of light industrial units, with funding from private sources and regional development agency SEEDA.

Mr Dennison said: 'It is great that we can now call ''full house'' on the first phase following the arrival of Venice Bath.

'We look forward to getting phase two under way as soon as possible, and it is testimony to the hard work of the Partnership staff that Partnership Park is already a job-creating success.'

Venice Bath boss Richard Huang, 24, founded the firm locally two years ago with a friend, Bill Peng, 25, after they graduated from university.

Richard said: 'The premises is ideal for us as we continue to expand by offering competitive prices on bathroom products imported directly by ship from factories near Hong Kong.

'We're going to be putting in a customer showroom soon, and it is a far cry from our cramped office in Portsmouth Road. We were previously storing the imports at a business storage company.'

Phase one consists of the eight units over 20,000 sq ft.

Building work on phase two, over another 20,000 sq ft, is due to start soon, with four of the eight units already under offer. A third phase, over a remaining 20,000 sq ft, is also planned.

Portsmouth-to-Southampton commercial property agency Hughes Ellard, Partnership Park's agent, handled the deal on behalf of the Partnership.

Leanne Channon of Hughes Ellard said: 'Partnership Park is an inspirational example of the private and public sectors teaming up in order to breathe new life into what was derelict industrial land in the heart of Portsmouth.'

Other occupiers at phase one include digital printing solutions company Repropoint, furniture retailer Mr Pine & Sons, power tools distributor Hilti and joiner company Howdens.

The Partnership is based at Enterprise House, Isambard Brunel Road, Portsmouth, and has the strapline 'Building a better place to work, live and be successful'.

FULL HOUSE: from left, Bill Peng and Richard Huang of Venice Bath, Martin Dennison of landlord Portsmouth Partnership and Leanne Channon of commercial property agency Hughes Ellard

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