CONSTRUCTION of the first units at the new £120m Worcester Six business park is to begin soon.

Development partners Stoford and Liberty Property Trust have appointed Bromsgrove-headquartered Benniman Construction Group as contractors to build the first two units on the 90-acre site.

The park, just off junction six of the M5 at Warndon, will provide up to 1.5 million sq ft of accommodation in a range of high quality business units, which have been designed for a variety of employment uses including technology, manufacturing, industrial and warehousing.

Liberty and Stoford were granted detailed planning permission by Wychavon District Council in July for units of 160,000 sq ft and 45,000 sq ft, the first to be built at Worcester Six.

Stoford director Gerard Ludlow, said: “With the appointment of Benniman as construction partner, Worcester Six is on track to start construction this month, completing in the second quarter of 2017. As the first large-scale development in Worcester for more than 10 years, we’re seeing plenty of interest in the park and are confident our speculative developments won’t be on the market for long.”

Cllr Ken Pollock, Worcestershire County Council cabinet member for economy, skills & infrastructure, said: "The construction of Worcester Six is essential to enabling the county to achieve its economic growth ambitions."

Gary Woodman, chief executive of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, added: "It is great to see that construction is about to begin on Worcester Six. The business park will have a hugely positive impact on the local economy with the creation of five thousand high-quality jobs and the provision of well-connected space for business expansion and investment.”

The county council expects the wider £120m park to create around 5,000 jobs once the whole development is complete and give Worcestershire's economy a major boost. Worcester Six is also one of four game changer sites identified in the county's Strategic Economic Plan – key employment sites seen as important in driving the county’s economic future prosperity.