The biggest multi-occupancy industrial development being built in Leeds is on time and within budget, and will be ready for occupation in February.

The 48,000 sq ft scheme is the latest extension to Ash Way at Thorp Arch Estate, near Wetherby, a former wartime munitions factory, owned by London-based Rockspring Hanover Property Unit Trust, which is being redeveloped into a modern business location close to the motorway network.

The latest £3m scheme, to be known as Ash Way III, comprises five light industrial units, including one of 15,000 sq ft, pre-let to wholesale confectionery business, Bon Bon’s, founded by general manager, Mark Rowntree, great grandson of confectionery entrepreneur and social reformer, Joseph Rowntree, which first moved to the estate in 2014.

The remaining speculative units, all available to lease through estate manager, Wharfedale Property Management, are two units of 6,000 sq ft, one of 9,000 sq ft and one of 12,000 sq ft.

The new units are being fitted out to a high specification with seven-metre-eave warehouses, up-and-over loading doors, air conditioned offices, LED lighting throughout, concrete loading yards and fibre connections for superfast broadband.

The scheme replaces two former derelict Royal Ordnance munitions magazines, Units 501 and 505, which were demolished after standing empty for more than 40 years.

The estate has witnessed significant development in recent years including the construction of a 62,925 sq ft purpose-built distribution warehouse in 2016 for national drinks distributor, Matthew Clark Wholesale Ltd.

Construction of the latest scheme – which will create units 6, 7, 17, 18 and 19 Ash Way - is being managed by York-based property and construction consultants, the LHL Group, and built by Lincoln-based Lindum Group Ltd, which has an office in Elvington, near York.

Wharfedale Property Management director, Tim Munns, says: “In spite of uncertainty over Brexit, we face a very strong demand for units. Thorp Arch Estate has more tenants today than at anytime in its 60-year-history.

“In this case, the pre-let to Bon Bon’s created the opportunity to develop this wider speculative scheme as part of a continuing programme of new build and refurbishment to support the region’s business community.

“Our previous extension to Ash Way, which completed in Aug 2016, was close to 100 per cent let when building work completed and we are hopeful of repeating this with our latest scheme.”

The Leeds offices of property consultants JLL and Carter Towler are agents for the scheme.

The two-million sq ft Thorp Arch Estate is base for a diverse range of more than 170 businesses, from start-ups to large Plcs, operating in local, national and international markets and employing more than 2,000 people. Thorp Arch Retail Park, which forms part of the estate, was the first out-of-town shopping centre in the country when it opened in 1959 and is complemented by a variety of leisure facilities.