HBD has long valued the power of partnerships. Collaborations help us deliver much needed new communities, homes and workspaces by fusing our expertise with other industry pioneers, and in this new series, we’re exploring the partnerships we’ve formed with likeminded organisations across the country.
In the first article, we meet Tracy Clavell-Bate who is head of development and acquisitions at Barnfield Developments – a company which, along with its construction division, is helping us deliver projects in Lancashire including EAST and Roman Way; here she writes about the work we do together.
At Barnfield, we’re big fans of collaboration.
We have a track record of working with partners across public and private sectors to deliver our work – including HBD – and I’ve nothing but good things to say about our progressive partnership.
Together we have created new places; places like Beacon 62, an 11.5-acre strategic gateway development in Merseyside. In recent years we have completed an 18,000 sq ft Aldi supermarket here, and secured planning for a Euro Garages service station at the site, on which more than 350 jobs have already been created.
The basis of any good working relationship is a shared vision and shared values, and we’re fortunate enough to enjoy commonality between Barnfield and HBD. We’ve never once had cross words, instead we have the same appetite and appreciation for architecture, design, and practical development.
But while such similarities are positive, I actually think we each draw more from what’s different about our organisations. Our contrasting strengths mean that we continue to learn from each other – building on our collective skills. For Barnfield, that means leveraging our right on first tender – speeding this area of the development process up. I also draw on our construction knowledge too.
Pooling our resources in this way allows us to deliver our work more effectively. Be it the aforementioned Beacon 62, or our ongoing work at EAST in Preston – a site we acquired in 2019. Locals doubted the viability of the latter, but we have successfully transformed the 18-acre site. Our newest phase of industrial units are already pre-let to two national distribution depots – DPD and DHL – something we and HBD recently announced.
Looking to the future and we have more plans afoot as we move forward together. We’re already in partnership with Roman Way, our next pipeline scheme on over 30 acres of land and the potential to deliver circa 800,000sq ft of industrial and warehouse space. We submitted a planning application for Roman Way in the summer and if approved, it could accommodate a further 1,500 jobs for the region.
The only change I want to make to our partnership is to expand it and do more together. I firmly believe we’ll achieve more in collabortion – new sites, new land and new ideas. And we’re motivated by the work we’re already doing – whether it’s drying the ink on an agreement to acquire a new site, securing planning, or watching a building come to fruition; we share each other’s highs and lows.
Now, we look forward to continuing this fantastic partnership and collaborating for the long term with HBD.