Sea change comes to Plymouth Dock

Estates Gazette – 30 October 2004

Plymouth's Cattedown dockside area is being regenerated with Neptune Park, Abbey Manor Group's 80,000 sq ft business park, leading the way.

One of the South West's most active developers, Abbey Manor was founded in 1870, and for most of its history has been associated with its Bartlett construction arm. In 1997, however, managing director Nigel Timmis sold Bartlett to Huntingate Construction and refocused the group to make property development its core business.

Abbey has since continued to build a varied portfolio across southern England. Its notable projects include a 19-acre distribution hub at Amesbury Property's 160-acre Solstice Park near Stonehenge; a 22,000 sq ft serviced office centre around its Yeovil HQ; the 60-acre Houndstone Business Park, also in Yeovil; a 30,000 sq ft retail scheme in Weston-super-Mare; and a mixed-use regeneration project at Taunton's East Yard and Firepool area.

Nigel Timmis is also keen to point to the pragmatism behind Abbey's choice of schemes. "We are led by opportunity and current trends and we are well capitalised."

Neptune Park encapsulates the boldness and pragmatism at the heart of Abbey's strategy, but also highlights the difficulties facing regeneration projects in the South West.

Plans for the renewal of Plymouth as a business market have typically concentrated on breaking its traditional reliance on the naval industry by diversifying the employer base. Neptune Park is among a handful of projects at the forefront of this drive. The area earmarked was a large mud bank at the estuary of the River Plym that had developed as a result of slack tidal flows. Plans were drawn up to move a disused Victorian limestone quarry nearby onto the mud bank for further construction.

It was an ambitious scheme, which Abbey subsidiary Cattedown Regeneration had to battle hard to bring to life. As There were also concerns over possible oil leakages and contamination of the estuary. A battle then ensued over the use of the site. A vocal lobby wanted it devoted to marine-related activity. In the end, the scheme got off to a strong start with the letting of a 50,000 sq ft state-of-the-art workshop to Plymouth's Theatre Royal. It wins a RIBA Stirling Prize for Ian Ritchie Architects.

And Timmis have ambitious plans for the future. "We are looking to develop our sphere of activity into the Midlands by establishing links with more development partners, which is our preferred mode of operation," adds Timmis.

The mixture of patience and boldness Abbey Manor has brought to the table so far should stand it in good stead.

(Edited from an article appearing in the Estates Gazette on 30 October 2004)