Driving Dorset

Mention South Dorset to the average person in the UK and they will probably think of Thomas Hardy for the literary type or for those more sport -minded, Portland as the venue for the Olympic Sailing regatta in 2012.

In fact South Dorset is an extremely vibrant part of the country which, despite the recession, continues to develop its major assets, in particular its tourist attractions with the  much-covered designation of the Jurassic Coast as a World Heritage Site and becoming a world player in terms of the sailing facilities and sailing academy in Portland Harbour.

Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester have continued to prosper despite the recession and continue to expand, providing several innovative and sensitive approaches to significant sites in this area.

Portland Port, the former naval base nestling against the Isle of Portland, protected from the prevailing south-westerly breeze, incorporates the line of the original railway connection to Easton through the Dockyard. Furthermore, the original Portland Port is coupled with the construction of the breakwater in 1849 which took 25 years to finish.

The breakwater is now a listed structure together with the coaling shed which at the time of construction was the Royal Navy’s equivalent of a Formula-1 pit-stop to enable rapid turnaround of the Fleet.

With the departure of the Navy in 1996 and the acquisition of the port by Portland Port, this has become the focus of significant redevelopment, including the removal of redundant buildings and formation of new purpose-built commercial premises. The development of the facilities is a unique attempt to marry the needs of a busy commercial port which goes hand in hand with one of the top sailing venues in the world.

The location including Osprey Quay represents one of the few commercial marine development opportunities along the South Coast. The development of the port by necessity has been carried out in a sensitive manner due to the listed buildings and listed zone.

The expansion of the port by increasing the berthing has recently been achieved by innovative means including removal of redundant cranes. Normally a straight forward matter, but here requiring listed building consent and a collation of historical records. Tenants include ship repairers, steel fabricators, shell-fish merchants and the Armed Forces. The future looks bright with increased demand for the commercial units within a secure and protected environment.

Sandie Wilson from Portland Port stated that bio-diversity was a main goal and the port was planning to become a major hub for wind power with the intention of developing an off-shore wind farm feeding electricity into the South Dorset grid.

The development of Brewery Square (the former Eldridge Pope Brewery site) in central Dorchester has not run smoothly due to the recession; this has been compounded recently by the insolvency of the contractor, Rok.

Despite the adverse conditions the developers have secured some significant tenants for the commercial units including: Café Rouge, Hobbs and Pizza Express, together with full occupancy of the retail units in the listed Eldridge Pope Building.

Andrew Waddsworth from Brewery Square stated that: “lettings are going extremely well and further tenants are being secured long before the commercial phases have even started construction. It’s looking good”.

The conversion of the original listed buildings into retail units and residential accommodation’s initial phases have been completed and all units are let and residential units sold and occupied. The latest phase has all been sold off plan and once a new main contractor has been secured the works are expected to recommence as soon as possible.

Poundbury
The Duchy of Cornwall has started work on the centrepiece of its development, Queen Mother Square. The development will be the heart of Poundbury village, and the project has commenced construction and will include 35,000 sq ft of office space, a small supermarket and local producers market. Simon Connaby, speaking on behalf of the Duchy of Cornwall, stated that the commercial market remains extremely robust and that tenants had already been secured for the small supermarket and a significant proportion of the new office space. Discussions were also underway with a significant local employer about the possibility of relocating to Poundbury.

West Dorset District Council has recently given permission for 14,500 sq ft of retail in Northern Dorchester for Lidl, despite initial opposition from the Highways Department. A revamp scheme including a revised road layout has now been passed, with works to begin shortly.

A local businessman who immediately visited the site, stated he was delighted to see the development being passed as this would further stimulate the area and provide spin-off businesses for the locality.

West Dorset District Council has recently obtained permission to redevelop a town centre site at Charles Street, Dorchester, which will be a mixed office and commercial development with the centre section being a £10.7m relocation of West Dorset District Council headquarters. David Evans, head of planning, considers this will be a fantastic priming phase to the development to ensure a high level of interest from a raft of prospective tenants.

In a recent announcements from the government, stated cuts will include the road improvement scheme currently being completed between Dorchester and Weymouth.  The scheme includes the accompanying junction improvements in Dorchester and Weymouth at a cost of some £70m. The main section was due to open early 2011 which would have secured easier access for business, residents and businesses.

Further phases are being constructed on the extremely successful Granby Industrial Estate outside Weymouth and the general view of the local area is that while all businesses have been affected by the recession, this area of South Dorset remains very strong with good levels of occupancy and a reasonable level of demand for commercial and residential properties.