The changing face of Rugby

After many years of on-off the town centre Chapel Street retail development is due to open in June of this year. This will see a 70,000 sq ft ASDA take pride of place together with 40,000 sq ft of other retail space. The designs have been developed so that they compliment the appearance of the existing iconic Rugby Art Gallery, Museum.

Across town on Railway Terrace a four star hotel development will be getting underway towards the end of the year which will see a one-hundred plus bed facility complete with restaurant, conference suite, car park and even a statue highlighting the birthplace of the game of rugby football. All in a just-off town centre location.

At the Railway Station, work is now complete which has dramatically improved the station frontage and services. Engineering work is virtually complete to separate local traffic from the high-speed intercity services, which has brought London to within a 50-minute journey time.

In front of the station is the Cattle Market site which is a five acre area due to be redeveloped for mixed use with residential, retail, a hotel, community facility and employment all being catered for.

On the other side of the tracks is the 100 acre St Modwen site which is due to become a mixed use site with residential, employment and a new Centre of Excellence College aimed at bringing manufacturing skills back to the area for the emerging environmental technologies industry.

Then there are the exciting developments on the Ansty site just of the M6 at J2. It will become the new R&D home for a high profile ICT manufactures together with several big names now showing interest in the site. Just down the road there is the ex-Peugeot site and already there are planning applications in for employment use.

Traffic issues are also being addressed by the building of the much vaunted Western Relief Road, which will speed traffic from the A426 over to the industrial areas on the western side of the town. This will reduce town centre traffic difficulties and speed up movement to and from the M6.

It is estimated that all of these developments will see something of the order of £1bn invested in the area over the next two to three years.

The range of investments taking place in Rugby highlight the reality that it is an ideal location for business and especially for those who are looking for quality office accommodation. There are already some excellent developments just off the M6 at Central Park and down the A426 at 11 Arches, all of which will benefit from the new Western Relief Road.

The recent arrival of Stena Lines and the General Social Care Council, decamping Government from London, heightens the degree of interest in the area.

Obviously the Government Departments interests relate to the high-speed links to London but most other office occupiers are attracted by the proximity of the M6/M1/A14 interchange, which is due for a multi million pound investment to move traffic from one system on to the next. This is due to commence in the next couple of years and will lead to major improvements in traffic flow.

The new edge of town office developments are starting to draw some of Rugby’s expanding companies out of the town centre into the newer facilities which means the area can cater for all uses, all sizes and all preferences. From pleasant Victorian buildings to state of the art low energy office buildings – everything the office market requires

For further information please contact:
Phone: 01788 522 512,
Email: mike.lenihan@rugby.gov.uk
or john.dale@rugby.gov.uk
or visit: rugby.gov.uk