A new warehouse development has been given approval by a planning authority and could provide 700 jobs.

Albion Land, the privately-owned commercial property developer and asset manager, has been given the green light to deliver an additional five logistics and industrial buildings of around 152,000 square feet at Axis J9, a major employment park in Bicester.

Construction on the new distribution and manufacturing park began in 2019 and has been delivered in two phases across 13 units which total over 500,000 square feet and are let to companies including The Menu, Origin Global and Arrival.

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The next phase of the project will comprise five buildings ranging from 19,000 square feet to 51,000 square feet and will reportedly house up to 700 jobs.

The buildings will target the highest environmental construction standards, and include energy efficiency measures such as solar roof panels, air source heat pumps and EV charging points.

Construction work is due to start in summer 2023 with unit handovers due in May 2024.

By mid-2024, the employment park will total around 650,000 square feet across 18 buildings to provide units for expanding local businesses, as well as regional and national large organisations looking to expand or relocate to Bicester.

Director of Albion land Simon Parsons said: “The green light to build the next five units is welcome news as Axis J9 is already proving to be a major contributor to Bicester’s economy having created many high quality jobs thanks to the companies which have moved into the earlier phases.

“Being so close to junction 9, M40 via fast flowing main roads along with Bicester’s expansion and population growth has proved to be a major attraction to occupiers.

“We have been talking to major businesses both locally and nationally which have expressed firm interest in being at Axis J9 to expand their businesses – they just need the right buildings to be delivered without delay to enable their growth.

“We can now get going and deliver these much-needed new units by May 2024.”

Albion Land’s other current project is Catalyst Bicester, a new technology and advanced manufacturing park, which is to deliver 300,000 square feet of workspace alongside the recently opened David Lloyd Health & Fitness Club and Holiday Inn.

The project is underway with the first phase fully let to revolutionary electric motor companies Evolito and Yasa.

Construction has just started on phase 2 and buildings will be delivered in late 2023.

Albion land was established in 1990 and is run by Kelvin Pearce and Simon Parsons, who are directly responsible for all projects.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1