Old works will be transformed

£1.5m trade park for 21st century

PLANS to transform the former EDM works in Hollinwood into a 21st century business park are under way following a near £1.5 million investment by a Delph-based business.

Rockfield Group Ltd, a company wholly owned by Johnson Group Holdings Ltd, has bought the 36,000 sq ft factory in Baxter Street — which has been dormant since EDM decamped to Newton Heath in 2006.

Workmen are already on site in the early throes of creating Junction Trade Park, a total of seven trade-countered, warehouse-workshop units close to the M60 junction.

Each of the units will be 5,000sq ft although they will be available in multiples, Jeremy Broadbent, the chief executive of Johnson Group Holdings, told Chronicle Business.

Rockfield, which was set up last year to handle a property deal on behalf of the parent group, has paid almost £1 million for the buildings and plans to spend more than £400,000 on the transformation, refurbishment and renovation.

“The property has been empty for more than four years and needs significant investment,” said Mr Broadbent, a Greenfield businessman.

He bought into Paul Johnson (Greenfield) Ltd, a building contractor established 20 years ago by Greenfield man Mr Johnson, who remains an integral member of the rapidly expanding Johnson Group.

Johnson has 100 employees nationwide, 60 of whom are based at the company headquarters at Gatefield Business Park, Delph.

Johnson Group, which is on course for a turnover of £30 million in the current financial year, has invested a further £350,000 to set up Aegis Design Ltd.

Based at St John’s Gate, London, the 10-strong team will concentrate on the retail and banking refurbishment sector, as well as undertaking design projects for the wider group.

Design work on the Hollinwood project was undertaken by the new team, which is headed by Simon Horspool and Suzie Dixon, both of whom are based in London.

The Aegis team, which has extensive experience of the shopfitting and interior design industry in commercial circles, already has an order book approaching £1 million and Mr Broadbent is confident they will be a good fit for the Johnson business.

He said: “We had been looking at increasing our in-house design capability and became aware that the this team, which is well regarded within the industry, was possibly breaking up.

“We moved quickly to instigate talks and we are all delighted to secured the services of a team which will add value to our business going forward.”

Among the projects Aegis are already working on are a shop fit-out in Keswick in the Lake District and commercial ventures in Aberdeen and London.