Bucking the credit crunch with new building at The Heath

With building firms around the country shelving projects in the face of the credit crunch, one of the UK's most successful business parks is bucking the trend by starting a multi-million development scheme just days after receiving detailed planning permission.

In 2008, SOG Ltd — owner and operator of The Heath in Runcorn, Cheshire — unveiled exciting plans to add 180,000 square feet of offices and laboratories to the existing site which will increase the workforce at the award-winning business and science complex from 2,000 to over 3,000 workers in the next five years.

Work began immediately following Halton Borough Council planners granting detailed permission for phase one of the project — involving construction of two identical office blocks each of 9,500 square feet. Work on the first of the two-storey, state-of-the art, buildings officially began on Friday, November 20, when Halton Borough Council Leader Tony McDermott was invited to turn over the first sod of soil on the site. The first building will be officially opened by former Government Minister Steven Norris of Friday 10 July.

Fittingly, the company moving in to the first of the new buildings will be Progressive Solutions, a tenant at The Heath since 2000. The company, which develops business management software for merchants and wholesalers in the construction sector, has continued to expand since its inception when it occupied two rooms at The Heath.

Now employing 33 local people and with plans to recruit more new staff, the company is literally bursting out of the 4,000 square feet space it occupies in the existing building.

SOG Managing Director, Dr Peter Cook, said: "Since we showcased our expansion plans back in April last year the economic downturn has sent shockwaves through the business world. However, I am delighted to report that we have been able to buck the credit crunch trend by moving ahead with our new development proposals to maintain the momentum of The Heath's incredible success story."

_{© 2009, kindly reproduced courtesy of Halton Today.}