South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

The Cowes Business Park in Cowes is being promoted by SEEDA as part of the Cowes Waterfront initiative. The development of this brownfield site will offer serviced sites for owner-occupiers and developers, supporting local business expansion and encouraging new companies to relocate to the Island.

SEEDA's Investment

The strategic aim for the Cowes Business Park is to provide much needed accommodation for new and growing businesses. The site is identified in the Isle of Wight Unitary Development Plan as a site for future employment development. It also has the benefit of outline planning permission.

Following acquisition, the Agency has carried out all remediation and services required to bring the site forward to the market.

First to locate to the Cowes Business Park is ARTIGIANO, a flourishing mail order and internet company selling women’s fashion designed in Italy. They have acquired a 0.9 ha (2.2 acre) plot on the site to house a new state-of-the-art warehouse that will facilitate the expansion of the Company’s highly successful European operations. With plans to more than double in size over the next five years, the expansion to the business park will help to create of safeguard local jobs.

ARTIGIANO's Joint Managing Director, Glyn Locke said, "Without this purchase, the company would have been forced to relocate its warehouse operation to the mainland. This would have resulted in loss of jobs and future prospects on the Island. At the same time, it was only the company's first class leading financial performance which enabled it to fund such a sizeable venture in conjunction with the company's bankers, NatWest."

Their expansion is good news for the economy of the Island and another success for the Cowes Waterfront initiative. By enabling development, SEEDA is helping to remove barriers to expansion, allowing businesses to maximise their growth potential.

SEEDA are currently in negotiations with two businesses in relation to the two remaining plots of land.

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