Craigavon: 18-month timescale for development of Mandeville Industrial Estate once planning approved
Senior Invest NI representative, Sharon Keenan revealed at a recent ABC committee meeting the statutory body is now taking active steps towards securing planning permission for the development of Mandeville Industrial Estate in Craigavon.
Once planning permission has been granted and a contractor appointed – which in itself could be a fairly lengthy process – the site could be developed over a period of 12 to 18 months, she suggested.
Occupying a surface of 99 acres, 95 of which have been vacant for decades, the massive industrial site is very much the ‘elephant in the room’ when it comes to future siting opportunities for industrial operations, as availability anywhere else in the ABC Borough is either non-existent or extremely limited.
These 95 acres of available land zoned for industrial purposes represent over 80 per cent of all the land available for such purposes in the entire ABC Borough (118.47 acres of unused industrial land in total).
In sharp contrast, Charlestown Road Industrial Estate, also in Craigavon, has very limited spare capacity (3.77 available acres), and capacity is also very restricted at Halfpenny Valley Industrial Estate in Lurgan (12.30 available acres).
Scarva Road Industrial Estate, in Banbridge, has no spare capacity at all. The same goes for Hamiltonsbawn Industrial Estate in Armagh, while Edenaveys Business Park, also in Armagh, only has 7.4 available acres left out of 24.
At a recent ABC Economic Development & Regeneration Committee meeting, Cllr Paul Duffy (SF, Portadown DEA) asked the InvestNI representative: “Mandeville in Craigavon, that’s 95 acres, it’s in the region of 59 football pitches. What has taken so long getting it to this point for investment?”
The Invest NI Property manager, who is in charge of Acquisitions and Development, replied: “Traditionally, we don’t develop out all of our lands in one go, we develop them out in stages, so to date we have invested in alternative sites in the area, with a view to whenever the demand is needed, and those other sites have started to fill up [in] Craigavon, Portadown and Lurgan, that’s the point at which we will invest in our next site.
Reach Capacity
“We don’t tend to do them all in one go, so Mandeville wouldn’t be unusual, [but] the time is right now, because we’re starting to reach capacity at Charlestown Business Park.
“Similarly, Halfpenny Valley Industrial Estate is starting to completely develop out. We also had a very large interest in the Mandeville site a couple of years ago. A business would have taken the entirety of it, and again that was another reason why we didn’t start the development works.
“They were going to buy the entirety, and alongside it they were going to invest in a supplier village, so that stalled us investing at that point in time.”
Cllr Duffy pursued the matter, asking: “Have you any idea of a timescale? [When] will Mandeville be ready for businesses moving in?”
The Invest NI representative replied: “Currently, we are working on a project brief to appoint an integrated consultancy team to finalise a design, so that we can submit a planning application.
“We’ve had initial conversations with Roads Service in particular, just to better understand the impact of 96 acres on the external road network. That’s very important to us, because we may have external infrastructure upgrades to do.
“We’re talking to NI Water, so we’re doing what we would advise our businesses to do. We’re front-loading the planning process, but we are appointing an integrated consultancy team.
“We’re about to go to tender on that, for them to bring forward the detailed design and a planning application, and at that point we will submit it to yourselves for approval.
“Upon receipt of that planning approval – and I’m not sure how long we’ll be in the planning process for – [and] subject to budget, we would start looking at procuring a contractor.
“It’s a big site, so the works associated with it will take a while. It could take 12 to 18 months to actually do the work, but we’ve undertaken a bit of work already at Mandeville. We have two access points off existing roundabouts, and we already have an initial spine road built into it.
“What’s very important to us is to look at green infrastructure as well, to help our businesses with their net-zero aspirations, so all of that will be taken into consideration in the development of Mandeville.
“So, I can’t give you a timescale on it just yet. Land projects are very complex, we can hit obstacles along the way as soon as you dig into the ground.”
Chief executive of Invest NI, Kieran Donoghue appealed for patience, given the complexity of delivering ‘turn-key’ industrial sites, at a time when Invest NI is rolling out a new strategy: “We only developed the Regional Property Programme last year.
“We presented it and briefed the minister on it, and the minister and the Department have sanctioned and supported that Regional Property Programme, so we’re now actively involved in negotiations and discussions about securing an appropriate budget to deliver that Regional Property Programme.
“Even if we buy land, that land needs to have the utility services, the water and wastewater services and electricity, so that when clients or investors establish on the business park or in the land, they have a plug-and-play solution in terms of the infrastructure services.
“So we’re sitting down with NI Water, NIE Networks, to make sure that we’re working in harmony with them, and to make sure that the lands that we do require or want to develop have the necessary infrastructure services. It takes time.”
Director of Development, Community & Wellbeing, Paul Tamati was keen to stress that he would continue to liaise with Invest NI and press for inward investment: “As a result of the minister’s new priorities, Invest NI are realigning themselves to those new priorities and new strategic direction.
“Invest NI will need a period of time to try and pull this through. The early indications are positive in terms of that. I know that part of my job is representing all parts of the borough, to try and see where we can advocate for this district moving forward, but recognising that it will take some time.
“I just wanted to reassure members we’ll continue to work collaboratively with Invest NI moving forward, and see what we can secure [in terms of] investment in the borough.”
François Vincent, Local Democracy Reporter