Nestlé unveil massive Cocoa Works site development plan (From York Press)
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Nestlé unveil massive Cocoa Works site development plan
9:32am Tuesday 5th July 2011 in News
YORK confectionery giant Nestlé is to launch plans for its Cocoa Works development site to developers and investors this week.
Up to 320 homes, as well as offices and shops will be built under proposals which will also create 585 jobs when work starts on the site next to Nestlé’s factory in Haxby Road.
More jobs will follow when the redevelopment is completed, the business has said.
Commercial property agency Alps Commercial will launch the scheme to for developers and investors at The Royal York Hotel tomorrow.
Peter Alcock, chief executive of Alps, said the Cocoa Works, in the Conservation Area between Haxby Road and Wigginton Road, had the right location, heritage and prestige, offering enviable views of the stunning York Minster.
He said: “This is a truly rare and exciting development opportunity in one of the UK’s best loved cities. We have already had a lot of interest in this site and we believe this is an exemplar project for the city and the region.
“Thanks to the partnership Nestlé and its consultants have forged with the city council, the planners will support the creation of a stunning new mixed-use development in which people can work, live and play.”
The 16.75-acre site is mainly cleared ready for development, although it has retained one of the company’s original six-storey manufacturing buildings, which will be converted.
The development will include 166 family homes, 46 apartments, a 55-unit assisted living development, a 100-bed student accommodation unit, eight live/work units, 104,000 sq ft of office accommodation, 10,000 sq ft of retail space, as well as a community centre/gym/creche, community café and the listed Rowntree Memorial Library.
Dave Bruce, Nestlé business services director said the unique location of the project and surrounding areas would enable interaction between residents, businesses, students and visitors on a public and private level.
He said: “We are looking for a developer who will deliver high quality and sustainable urban community buildings.
“We are very excited about the potential impact this site will have on the city from the investment and the hundreds of jobs created.”
Nestlé site offers a unique chance
THE Nestlé Cocoa Works officially go on sale tomorrow.
Potential developers and investors are being invited to the Royal York Hotel to find out more about the 17-acre site.
Outline plans for its development, already approved, include 166 family homes, 46 flats, a retirement community and student accommodation, as well as offices, shops, and a community centre.
The hope is that the development, next to the Nestlé factory in Haxby Road, will create 585 jobs. This is just the kind of development York needs. As with the equally-iconic Terry’s site, the plans involve keeping at least one of the historic factory buildings, and converting it as part of the scheme. There will also be a welcome emphasis on sustainability.
Peter Alcock, of property agency Alps Commercial, says there had been huge interest from potential developers and investors.
“This is a truly rare and exciting development opportunity in one of the UK’s best-loved cities,” he said. Exactly so. It is vitally important that the right developer is found, and that the development is sensitively handled. But this is a wonderful opportunity to give York’s economy a boost, while showcasing yet again what a beautiful, yet also modern and vibrant, city this is.
Comments(27)
Whistlejacket
says...
11:26am Tue 5 Jul 11
TheYorkRose
says...
11:31am Tue 5 Jul 11
Anyway, it looks like a good development that will hopefully bring housing, jobs and money to York and boost our well-established chocolate links.
Spider24
says...
11:58am Tue 5 Jul 11
VoicefromHeworth
says...
1:40pm Tue 5 Jul 11
VoicefromHeworth
says...
1:42pm Tue 5 Jul 11
was york now rotherham
says...
3:02pm Tue 5 Jul 11
arglemcgee
says...
3:11pm Tue 5 Jul 11
Tally115
says...
3:32pm Tue 5 Jul 11
was york now rotherham wrote:Oh My God...please learn how to spell properly...It's Nestle not nestley and it's also Rowntree Macintosh, and yes the fire station is still there
i wonder how many people remember years back when nestley first perchased roundtree they said they would never change the name well they did it went from rountree macintoch to roundtree then nestley roundtree and then finley nestle's, they also said they would keep the factory and its buildings well i see the dinning block is now a private hospital and now the coco works is about to go whot els is about to go as its been a good few years since i have been down that way i am not sure if the fire station is still their if it is then at least they will have their own fire station on tap
dogcapp
says...
3:57pm Tue 5 Jul 11
pedalling paul
says...
4:07pm Tue 5 Jul 11
Spider24 wrote:Strange that some (including police security advisors) seem to regard these paths as a burglar's thoroughfare.
Hmmm - that'd be the triple purpose burglars escape/muggers hangout/cycle path would it. Sorry but I'd rather chance my luck on the roads
If burgars truly used them in preference to getaway cars, it could put the police interceptors out of business.
Stuart Jones
says...
5:35pm Tue 5 Jul 11
Tally115 wrote:Some amazing spelling there! Or should I say they're?
was york now rotherham wrote:Oh My God...please learn how to spell properly...It's Nestle not nestley and it's also Rowntree Macintosh, and yes the fire station is still there
i wonder how many people remember years back when nestley first perchased roundtree they said they would never change the name well they did it went from rountree macintoch to roundtree then nestley roundtree and then finley nestle's, they also said they would keep the factory and its buildings well i see the dinning block is now a private hospital and now the coco works is about to go whot els is about to go as its been a good few years since i have been down that way i am not sure if the fire station is still their if it is then at least they will have their own fire station on tap
was york now rotherham
says...
5:48pm Tue 5 Jul 11
mickrick
says...
5:56pm Tue 5 Jul 11
Until Tracy and the comrades embrace the real world of commerce supply and demand will always rule. Unless of course you put the hurdles so high that no one can compete.
That is exactly what we have here. Builders cannot build in York because Tracy has set the barriers too high. Its as if she has a calling to wreck the City and local tradesmens lives.
Well shes doing well thus far. Herman Goering tried and failed To wreck our fine City. Tracy is well on course to succeed.
Lamplighter
says...
6:04pm Tue 5 Jul 11
pedalling paul wrote:Muggers use them Paul - I don't. Like Spider24 I feel safer on the main roads.
Spider24 wrote: Hmmm - that'd be the triple purpose burglars escape/muggers hangout/cycle path would it. Sorry but I'd rather chance my luck on the roadsStrange that some (including police security advisors) seem to regard these paths as a burglar's thoroughfare. If burgars truly used them in preference to getaway cars, it could put the police interceptors out of business.
the butler
says...
7:19pm Tue 5 Jul 11
desmond tiblets
says...
9:29pm Tue 5 Jul 11
NoMorePlease
says...
10:08pm Tue 5 Jul 11
the butler wrote:And those ingredients were or are?
Since purchasing R&Co, Nestle purpose was, I think, to extract (gut)the more profitable parts of the unit, after a while move the manufacture of these goods to Poland or other continental plants then follow up with selling off parts of the property; real estate is where the profit lies, besides chocolate can be made much cheaper in Europe! This company does not realize (like many others) that many ingredients found in the York area contributed to the quality of the original products, that are found no where else also can not be duplicated!
york_chap
says...
12:49am Wed 6 Jul 11
NoMorePlease wrote:Cocoa from the 500 acre cocoa plantation down Crombie Avenue of course.
the butler wrote:And those ingredients were or are?
Since purchasing R&Co, Nestle purpose was, I think, to extract (gut)the more profitable parts of the unit, after a while move the manufacture of these goods to Poland or other continental plants then follow up with selling off parts of the property; real estate is where the profit lies, besides chocolate can be made much cheaper in Europe! This company does not realize (like many others) that many ingredients found in the York area contributed to the quality of the original products, that are found no where else also can not be duplicated!
On a serious note, I hope they put some thought into the design of the new buildings/ landscaping etc. I'm sick of seeing new developments comprising either drab, brick boxes or worse still, such boxes coated in coloured plastic or flimsy wooden cladding.
Some modern architecture is stunning, but hideous carbuncles like that (I assume it's a house) thrown up on the corner of Clifton Green/Greencliffe Drive a few years back make me worry what will be proposed when a site of this size comes up for development.
I'm all for innovation and modernity, but in context and within reason.
djtswilson
says...
8:56am Wed 6 Jul 11
browbeaten
says...
9:53am Wed 6 Jul 11
was york now rotherham
says...
10:39am Wed 6 Jul 11
browbeaten wrote:well said i agree but the day will come when the good people off york will wake up and realise their is no industry left and i have a feeling in the the next 10-20 years the racecourse will be sold off for building on as well
this news is not to be celebrated. it is spelling the death of the forner rowntree plant that employed thousands. it has been stripped of its production to foreign parts now its real estate is being sold off to enrich an overseas company. people back in the late 1980's said it would happen when nestle bought. now it has. sad day for york not one to rejoice only the dillusional york city council could consider this a good day
ISeeEverything
says...
11:31am Wed 6 Jul 11
Thorn in my side
says...
11:37am Wed 6 Jul 11
a) They will not find a buyer.
b) It will be like Terry's - lots of invisible interest and invisible 'progress' with equally invisible development !
c) The Council blame the recession for nothing happening.
Of course, it has nothing to do with the Council's greedy, unworkable affordable housing policy target does it ? !!!!!
sponge
says...
7:38pm Wed 6 Jul 11
york_chap wrote:I love that house whats your problem with it? Every time I go past on the P&R I admire it, very distinctive & original. well done York Council for granting planning permission. We built our House & being just outside York we fell into Hambleton, they were so miserable a stuffy we weren't allowed to stamp our mark on anything we just had to conform like everyone else everything we wanted was knocked back so now I have a house just like everyone else & not an individual piece of architecture. I bet you hate the St Johns building as well, lets hope there is a bit of rebellion in the design of this project.
NoMorePlease wrote:Cocoa from the 500 acre cocoa plantation down Crombie Avenue of course.
the butler wrote:And those ingredients were or are?
Since purchasing R&Co, Nestle purpose was, I think, to extract (gut)the more profitable parts of the unit, after a while move the manufacture of these goods to Poland or other continental plants then follow up with selling off parts of the property; real estate is where the profit lies, besides chocolate can be made much cheaper in Europe! This company does not realize (like many others) that many ingredients found in the York area contributed to the quality of the original products, that are found no where else also can not be duplicated!
On a serious note, I hope they put some thought into the design of the new buildings/ landscaping etc. I'm sick of seeing new developments comprising either drab, brick boxes or worse still, such boxes coated in coloured plastic or flimsy wooden cladding.
Some modern architecture is stunning, but hideous carbuncles like that (I assume it's a house) thrown up on the corner of Clifton Green/Greencliffe Drive a few years back make me worry what will be proposed when a site of this size comes up for development.
I'm all for innovation and modernity, but in context and within reason.
meme
says...
12:53pm Mon 11 Jul 11
We should do more to encourage innovative designs in York not stifle them
arglemcgee
says...
10:43pm Tue 26 Jul 11
pedalling paul says...
11:06am Tue 5 Jul 11
Hopefully this will be linked to the development, to encourage use of sustrainable transport.