CONTRUCTION work has started on a major new industrial park for Ripon which is set to bring at least 100 new jobs to the city.

Infrastructure work has started at Canalside Business Park, Boroughbridge Road, which will create a new business base for the city and help ease the severe shortage of commercial and industrial space.

The developer, Canalside Developments (Yorkshire) Ltd, plans to start building work on the individual units on the 11-acre estate imminently. Detailed consent has been granted for six industrial units, each of up to 2,000 sq metres.

Andrew Lupton, sales director of Canalside Developments, said: "The idea will be a multi-use site to give the area variety, and we have already had interested inquiries for purpose-built office space."

The go-ahead for the new estate offers an important new boost to Ripon which has not had a significant new industrial development site for 20 years. The Dallamires Lane estate has been fully occupied for some time.

The infrastructure work, to include the estate roads, incoming service mains and drainage systems, is being undertaken by Thirsk-based integrated design build company, Severfield-Reeve Projects which has been a driving force behind the development of Dalton Airfield Industrial Estate, near Thirsk, and Thirsk Industrial Park.

Severfield-Reeve Projects has been responsible for obtaining detailed planning permission from Harrogate Borough Council and satisfying the numerous planning and legal conditions on behalf of Canalside Developments for the new estate, which will incorporate a variety of business, general industrial, storage and distribution premises.

Developer's agent is FPD Savills of York.

Lindsay Ross, managing director of Severfield-Reeve Projects, said: "We have been involved with this project for the past 12 months, working with the developer and Savills to develop an acceptable scheme which satisfies the local authority planners and other statutory bodies. We are pleased to have started work on site which is progressing well.

"Our integrated approach to design build is particularly suited to developments of this type to ensure that the right scheme is achieved on time and within budget.

Updated: 08:55 Tuesday, July 22, 2003