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National property and construction consultancy Wakemans is on site with the demolition works for phase one of St. Modwen’s £100m redevelopment of the Taunton Trading Estate in Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton.
St. Modwen has appointed Wakemans as employer’s agent, quantity surveyor and project manager and senior quantity surveyor/project manager Tony Hooper will be running the scheme from Wakemans’ Bristol office.
The development is a joint venture with Axa Sun Life and will provide 550 houses plus 170,000 sq ft (15,793 sq m) of light industrial and warehousing space.
The residential aspect of the scheme will be a mix of properties in a design style that reflects the surrounding Somerset villages and will include 20% of affordable homes, to boost the local housing market. Meanwhile, the industrial space will range from starter units up to 40,000 sq ft (3,716 sq m) of speculative and purpose-built accommodation.
The phase one demolition works have been completed and Wakemans is preparing the next phases of demolition works for tendering during the second quarter of this year with a projected completion date of March 2009.
The infrastructure works have been awarded to PM Harris, which commenced in February and is due to complete by the end of 2008. The buildings will be cleared in stages to facilitate the orderly relocation of existing businesses to other areas within the site.
Wakemans is preparing the commercial packages for a number of buildings and the first commercial building package for Bookers has been awarded to Barnwood.
West Country Feeds commercial unit is currently out to tender and the projected completion for this project is January 2009.
The master plan associated with Structural Landscaping is due to out to tender in July with a commencement in autumn 2008.
“The site is a former Ministry of Defence storage depot and while there are bunkers in the ground which will have to be broken out and the stream is being re-routed to create a flood basin, the site poses no major challenges for a regeneration specialist like St. Modwen,” says Wakemans senior project manager Tony Hooper.
“This mixed use scheme will bring many benefits for the community and there is a great deal of enthusiasm for it locally.”
In addition to new houses and industrial space, this regeneration scheme will provide the first section of the Norton Fitzwarren relief road plus additional playing fields.
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