Refurbished mill now fully let to businesses

The 20,600 sq ft heritage Mending Rooms building has been converted to high-quality business accommodation.

The development was completed last November, with 50 per cent of office space already let. Now three more deals mean the Mending Rooms are fully occupied.

The project was supported by a grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), with the total development costing £2.3m.

The new occupiers are AHCI, The City Partnership and Ash Products. They join Biofresh, Porky Penguin, Lumley Baxter Asset Management and Foodmate UK in the historic building.

Martin Duckett, of developers Park Valley Huddersfield, said that the radically refurbished Mending Rooms will deliver prime SME employment space on a successful site to support inward investment and company expansion.

“We are delighted that this exciting opportunity has attracted seven successful and growing innovative companies to work alongside each other within contemporary space of the highest quality in a heritage setting,” he said.

Sarah-Jayne Lishman, of Leeds-based property consultancy Dove Haigh Phillips, added: “It is tremendous news that the Mending Rooms are now fully occupied.

“This splendid development is supporting economic growth in the Huddersfield area and enhances the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises.

“We are providing space that small start-ups and entrepreneurs can occupy, as they enjoy first-class physical and digital infrastructure, supporting the growth and sustainability of their businesses. Ample on-site parking is also available.”

Dan Vinter of AHCI said: “Quite simply it is the most beautiful office in the whole Huddersfield area. Nothing comes close.

“The detail the owners have put into the build really speaks for itself.

“We are so lucky to have found these special offices. We were also very impressed with Adeel Adnan, who worked with us on behalf of the landlords – what a gentleman he is.

“Our company specialises in construction insurance and are based all over the UK with our head office in Warrington. Following a record year last year, we felt it was time to set up a Yorkshire team – and our magnificent new offices are the result.”

Andrew Lecomber-Peace, of City Partnership, added: “With the growth of our registrar services business over the past two years, we decided to open an office down here to complement our Edinburgh office.

“The obvious choice was to look at the surrounding areas, so we considered offices in West Yorkshire locations such as Huddersfield and Wakefield. Park Valley has a lot of positive features, which made the decision to set up here an easy one.

“It is private and set back from the main road; the views are very picturesque and ‘typically Yorkshire’; IT facilities and internet are first rate; there is free parking for office staff and enough spaces for visitors; and the whole complex is secure.

“We were initially located in the neighbouring Park Valley House, but after we took on receiving agent services due to the success of the registrar side of the business, we needed to move to a bigger office to accommodate more staff.

“The Mending Rooms was the obvious choice for our new office and our clients have been more than impressed with the building and its facilities.”

Simon Alder ,of data and analytics company Ash Projects, saied: “We had outgrown our existing offices in nearby Farnley Tyas and were looking for a large space where the team could easily work collaboratively.

“As soon as we visited the Mending Rooms we were wowed and there wasn’t any other option for us.

“The fantastic quality of the converted building, the amazing space with great scenery, lots of on-site parking and out-of-hours security were a great draw, and the cherry on top was the availability of an additional unit to relocate our workshop too – allowing all our UK operations to be located at a single site.

“Park Valley Mills is somewhere we are proud to share with our team and our customers – a real gem of a place. In addition, the landlords have been great, working with us to enable us to move to the new spaces, always on hand to answer any queries. Nothing is ever too much to ask.”

Mr Duckett added: “We are tremendously proud of what has already been achieved at Park Valley Business Park and Park Valley House, where more than 150 sustainable jobs have been created already. Now completed, the Mending Rooms is home to another 80 employees.

“We have been able to transform a derelict industrial site into a modern business park, with first-class industrial units and a wonderful heritage building in Park Valley

House. Now the Mending Rooms is the next jewel in our crown.

“We have built speculatively in a challenging commercial property market, placing our faith in the Huddersfield area and this faith has been rewarded on a site which has a proud history and a great future.”

The adjacent Park Valley Business Park, which has 18 light industrial units, is now fully let, with just an 825 sq ft office in Park Valley House available to lease at the development.

The main contractors for the Mending Rooms were JM Building Yorkshire.

The development has the full support of Kirklees Council.