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Pit Stop Productions, one of Yorkshire’s leading animation companies, is moving into brand-new, purpose-built offices at Capitol Park Barnsley, the £60 million business park by Junction 37 of the M1.
Pit Stop has bought a 3,000 sq ft hybrid office unit and will be relocating to the new premises this summer. The company is merging three office/studios in Leeds, Sheffield and Wakefield and will bring 15 full-time staff to Capitol Park.
Managing director John Sanderson commented: “This is a tremendous step forward for us. These hybrids are fantastic two-storey buildings, which are perfectly suited to our business. The top floor will be a recording studio, whilst the ground floor will be an animation studio. There is plenty of room for offices, too.
“It will be a wrench moving away from our head office in Wakefield, but the demographics at Capitol Park in Barnsley are superb. The location, just a couple of minutes from the M1, is excellent, whilst there is a pool of skilled, readily available labour in South Yorkshire. It’s an unbeatable site.”
“There are seven other of these hybrid units at Capitol Park and I can see them being swiftly snapped up. This is a very exciting development for Barnsley and, indeed, the whole of South Yorkshire,” added Mr Sanderson.
Pit Stop’s clients include My Travel, The Metro Centre, Gateshead, and Pop Idol. The company has created the animation characters Dizzy and Shades for My Travel and Metrognomes for the Metro Centre, whilst providing the backing soundtrack music for Pop Idol. It is now looking to move into mainstream television production.
Martin Croxen, the chief executive of Sterling Capitol, the Leeds-based developers of Capitol Park, commented: “We are delighted to welcome a company such as Pit Stop to Capitol Park. They are young, vibrant and dynamic, a hi-tech business perfect for a pioneering business park.”
Guy Cooke, of property consultant Knight Frank in Leeds, who are marketing the park, said; “These are Leeds buildings at Barnsley prices and are already attracting huge interest. They provide tremendous opportunities for new and existing businesses to buy or let. Capitol Park Barnsley itself underlines the renaissance of South Yorkshire as a business destination.”
Ann Glews, business development officer at Barnsley Development Agency, added: “We were approached by Pit Stop Productions about suitable premises in the Barnsley area and Capitol Park was the ideal solution. The investment made by Sterling Capitol into Barnsley is already having a positive effect on inward investment in the area and the future here is looking very bright.”
Meanwhile hotel group Ramada and pub chain Toby Inns have been given the go-ahead for a 120-bed hotel and an adjacent pub and restaurant respectively at the front of the business park by Barnsley Metropolitan Council. Together the Ramada Encore hotel and the Toby Inn pub and carvery will create 60 new jobs.
Capitol Park is a classic mixed-use scheme, featuring 450,000 sq ft of quality office and industrial space, plus the new hotel and pub/restaurant and provision for a 250-space park-and-ride facility. It is expected to create 650 jobs.
This prestigious park, which is being built in conjunction with a new by-pass for the village of Dodworth, is transforming the area north west of Junction 37 of the M1.
Martin Croxen explained: “This is a very exciting scheme for Barnsley, a town with a proud industrial past and a great future. We are delighted to be involved in a development which will assist in the regeneration of one of South Yorkshire’s most important towns”.
“As developers Sterling Capitol have a proven track record in delivering highly successful business parks in prime motorway locations in Yorkshire. Capitol Park Thorne and Capitol Park Leeds have revitalised their communities and created more than 2,500 jobs between them. I have every confidence that Capitol Park Barnsley will be equally successful,” said Mr Croxen.
Work is nearing completion on the new by-pass and the park’s infrastructure and construction of a speculative first phase of high quality hybrid units, ranging from 2,000 sq ft to 8,000 sq ft and Grade A offices from 4,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft, is well advanced. Units are available for occupation from July this year.
Regeneration specialists Priority Sites, who are building a Grade A office block of 34,000 sq ft, believe this is ideally located to serve local and regional markets.
The development has been supported by a £2.65m public sector grant from Objective One and has been carefully planned and brought forward working closely with Renaissance South Yorkshire, Yorkshire Forward and Barnsley Development Agency.
Mike Dove, the partner in charge of Knight Frank’s Leeds office, commented: “Sterling Capitol has established an enviable reputation as developers who deliver. Their development is excellent news for Barnsley and excellent news for South Yorkshire, because it will provide jobs and business opportunities across all sectors”.
Press release for Barnsley (June 2006) |
