The Wokingham Borough is a popular location for business due to its excellent road and rail communications coupled with an attractive living and working environment.
A prosperous and economically vibrant area, with thriving businesses and unemployment below 1% the Borough is home to service sector and leading high-tech companies. Oracle, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson have chosen this part of the Thames Valley for their European or UK headquarters.
Around 28% of employment in the Wokingham Borough is in the business and financial services sector. More than 80% of companies are small businesses, an indication of the opportunities for start-up and growth that exists here.
Within the Borough there are several types of business location and the Borough Council is keen to maintain a range of employment types and a variety in size of units.
IQ Winnersh
Landowner SEGRO has invested £100 million to transfer this modern 41 hectare site into one of the best quality business parks in the region. IQ Winnersh is strategically located adjacent to the A329M, between Reading and Wokingham, and has unrivalled motorway links to Heathrow Airport along the M4. The development has its own railway station on the Reading/Waterloo line. The planning permission is for business and warehousing use and the structure of the buildings provide flexible, multi-purpose accommodation. SEGRO has established both advance units and purpose-built complexes to tenants’ own requirements. Winnersh Triangle has proved attractive to international companies seeking to test the UK market, including high technology, computer and electronic industries.
Thames Valley Park, Earley
This exciting business park has become well-established on an attractive 47 hectare development site overlooking the Thames in north Earley, east of Reading. It has direct access from the A329M via a flyover across the A4. An adjoining 33 hectare country park, including a nature reserve, complements the parkland setting of the ultra-modern offices. Existing facilities at the business park include a day nursery and a health and fitness club. Presently there is a shuttle bus from Reading station to the site. Occupiers include BG Group, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, Xansa and ING Direct.
Greenpark
Eighty hectares of land to the south-west of Reading alongside the M4 adjacent to Junction 11 has been developed as GreenPark - a high quality business park in a wooded and wetland setting for Prudential. Permission was granted for 209,030 square metres of floorspace by Wokingham Borough Council, West Berkshire Council and Reading Borough Council. Almost 40% of GreenPark lies in the boundaries of Wokingham Borough. Panning permission has recently been granted to develop the Green Park railway station which will be the first new station in the south of England for 50 years. The award winning GreenPark wind turbine, which provides clean, renewable wind generated electricity to local people was the first on a business park in the UK and is now a major local landmark. Childcare and recreation form part of the overall scheme with an onsite nursery and leisure complex. Occupiers include Cisco Systems, Logica and Costco.
Sutton's Business Park, Earley
Slough Estates has developed over 71,500 square metres of employment space at this prime location east of Reading at the junction of the A4 and the A329M in north Earley. It comprises a mix of modern, mostly office, premises in landscaped grounds fronting the A4 at its entrance and slightly older industrial and warehousing units, typically of around 400 square metres in size, at its western end. Key occupiers are Jacobs and Rockwell Collins.
Wokingham Town Centre
Wokingham town centre provides a mix of employment uses, including shopping, office buildings, local government and some leisure. Occupiers include: Panasonic, Attachmate, Innovision, Waitrose, Marks and Spencer and Virgin Active.
Molly Millar's Lane, Wokingham
Molly Millar’s Lane, Wokingham is the town’s traditional industrial area with a mix of older units, modern premises in a variety of sizes and two business parks, Mulberry and Oaklands. Covering 38 hectares in total, it is ten minutes’ walk south of the town centre, five minutes’ walk from the railway station and a ten minute drive from the A329M. Further development is possible for a mix of warehousing, light or general industrial use at Ashville Way. Key occupiers include: Logsys Solutions, Intersurgical, Crown Lift Trucks, TradeMark Windows, Tally, Hummingbird, Intellicorp and CF Taylor.
Toutley Industrial Estate, Wokingham
Toutley comprises small premises for industry developed over two decades on the north-western edge of the built-up area of Wokingham.
Headley Road, Woodley
A 17 hectare industrial estate was developed on the site of the former Woodley Airfield, which includes several large manufacturing units and Parslows Bakery and small modern industrial and warehousing units. Premises range from 90 to 550 square metres in size in a convenient location, five minutes drive time from the A329M, with a sizeable local workforce.
Ruscombe Business Park
Ruscombe Business Park is a 4.85 hectare employment site on the edge of the village of Twyford in the north of the Borough. It has been partially redeveloped to provide modern office pavilions and small units occupied by marketing, distribution and industrial companies. Access is good to the M40 from this part of the Borough. Ruscombe Business Park is reached via a country lane from the A4. Occupiers of the pavilions include Creative UK, Axxia, Harris Springs, Formold and Interserve.
Pinewood
At Pinewood, between Wokingham and Crowthorne, Johnson and Johnson are due to move their UK headquarters to an exciting new office which is due to open early in 2009.
Cutbush Industrial Park
A modern business park with good access to the M4. Pro-Bel Ltd have chosen this location for their UK headquarters.
Small site south of M4 near junction 11
Wellington Industrial Estate, Basingstoke Road, Spencers Wood, covers 0.4 hectares and is developed with small modern industrial units. Heron Industrial Estate, Basingstoke Road, Swallowfield, comprises 1.2 hectares and is a small estate in a rural area with small modern industrial units and one large older building. Winkworth Engineering, which has a large export market, makes and refurbishes mixing equipment from premises in Swallowfield Village.
Borough Council Premises
The Borough Council owns and manages three employment sites. A site at Hogwood Lane, Finchampstead, which provides small and medium sized factory units in a rural location, small light industrial units at Grovelands Avenue, Winnersh, and small office/high-tech units at Station Road, Twyford. The Council offers short term tenancies, usually two to three years. These premises are suitable for start-up and developing businesses. Priority is given to local people. The local plan identifies a further 1,320 square metres of development for Grovelands Avenue. For information on property managed by Wokingham Borough Council please contact the Property Section on 0118 974 6981 or 0118 974 6975.
