Work will begin on a £50m mixed-use scheme at one of Peugeot Citroen’s Coventry sites, as protests continue about its decision to end vehicle production in the city.
The French manufacturer announced today that two years of discussions had ended with an agreement for the redevelopment of its former Stoke works.
Astral Parkridge and George Wimpey will together bring some 1,700 homes, office, leisure and retail space, plus a sports centre, to the 83-acre site.
A new 110,000 sq ft corporate HQ and a 60,000 sq ft technical centre will also be built for Peugeot Citroen.
Contractors will start work on the latter buildings next month, with completion in 2007 and the final staff transfers during 2008.
Gerald Eve advised Peugeot Citroen about planning, development and relocation issues on the scheme.
The news was announced as union members from the group’s Ryton plant – which will close in mid-2007 – demonstrated outside a Peugeot showroom in Coventry.
The TGWU wants car-buyers to boycott the Peugeot and Citroen marques in protest at the decision to end production.
The Stoke site once built Hillmans and Humbers, but it was decided in early
2004 to end manufacturing there, and develop a mixed-use scheme.
Gerald Eve’s head of agency at its Birmingham office, Richard Ludlow, described the deal as “probably the most significant to have taken place in Coventry in recent years.”
Gefco relocated its logistics operation from the Stoke site to a new 229,000 sq ft shed at ProLogis Park Coventry to allow the development to take place.
When Ryton production ends, Peugeot Citroen will still employ roughly 1,000 people in the city; at the Stoke site and a components division at Tile Hill.
References: EGi News 19/06/06
