Ashville acquires Chippenham Office site to deliver £10m, 40,000 sq ft Sustainable Business Unit development

Ashville has purchased a 2.3 acre vacant office site from Canada Life in Chippenham to speculatively redevelop 40,000 sq ft for new Sustainable Business Unit space.

The site is located on 1 Methuen Park, directly accessed from the Bath Road, Chippenham, with access to the M4 motorway Junction 17 a few miles north, with A350 in close proximity providing strong road connections to the south and neighbouring centres.

Ashville intend to develop units ranging from approximately 1,500 sq ft to 4,000 sq ft, capable of combining, which will be available within the next year. Once complete, the scheme will have a gross development value of approximately £10m.

The site housed a single office tenant, Capita, but after a prolonged period vacant, Ashville acquired in late December 2023.

Neighbouring occupiers to Ashville’s proposed development include a number of high profile trade and retail operators, such as Kellway Building supplies (under construction), Aldi, Costa, M&S, Next and Sainsburys.

All properties will benefit from cycle storage, electric vehicle charging points and roof mounted solar PV which provide green energy on an affordable basis to occupiers.

In addition, the units will benefit from enhanced natural lighting to support staff well-being and be constructed from high-performance building materials to reduce CO2 emissions, yet whilst the repurposed scheme will seek to minimise waste from site through the development. The scheme is targeting an EPC A+ to be Carbon Net Zero. 

Commenting on the acquisition, Ashville’s Development Director, Spencer Crowder said: “This site presents a great opportunity to open up a former 90’s office building and site. This enables new employment use into an obsolete building and our investment will provide modern small to mid-sized accommodation, targeting a range of businesses that require good transport links, ease of parking and loading, with strong green credentials in a building that can support their growth over the long term.

“We continue to see strong demand for flexibly sized, high-quality and sustainable urban Business Unit accommodation in strategic regional locations.  Our most recent development at Ashville Court on Methuen Park provided 20 Business Units and new builders merchant, which experienced rapid take up once marketed.

“Our latest proposed development will help satisfy this ongoing demand and provide a long-term economic asset for the locality and the wider Wiltshire region.

“Ashville look forward to working with Wiltshire Council, local stakeholders and the local business community to deliver this exciting new sustainable Business Unit development and build upon the strong success to date from Ashville Court, Chippenham.”

Ashville was advised on the site acquisition by Alder King, with JLL acting as vendor agent on sale.