by Edward Simpkins
Thames Valley Police is talking to Standard Life about developing a new headquarters at the fund’s Abingdon Business Park under the Private Finance Initiative.
A spokesman for the police said that it was close to buying just over 2ha (5 acres) for a new station, traffic base and an area HQ. It is thought that the police will buy the site and look for a development partner. The partners will sell and redevelop Abingdon’s current police station as retail and office space to fund the new scheme.
The police would keep a presence in the town, “which we call a cop shop” explained the spokesman. Jones Lang Wootton is acting for the police, while Savills, incorporating James Offen & Partners, and Healey & Baker, is marketing Abingdon Business Park.
Elsewhere on the 22.3ha (55 acre) park, Standard Life has sold a 1.8ha (4.5 acre) development plot to Oxford Instruments, which paid close to £865,000 per ha (£350,000 per acre) for a 250-year leasehold on the land at a peppercorn. It plans a 4,645m2 (50,000 sq ft) research, development and production unit for its industrial and analyst business.
Provisions for a further 2,787m2 (30,000 sq ft) of floorspace are available.
Oxford will move from its current home on the adjacent Ashville Trading Estate. The deal is reported to be the largest land sale in Oxfordshire this year.
The joint agents have let three warehouses – totalling 5,017m2 (54,000 sq ft) – to electronic toy distributor VTech Electronics. It extended its current lease on two units and took a further one of 2,183m2 (23,500 sq ft).
Alex Watt of Standard Life said that there are three service plots remaining at the park, sized from 0.6ha to 2.2ha (1.5 acres to 5.5 acres).
