BIRCHWOOD-BASED developer Chancerygate has negotiated a 15 year lease on its 22,066 sq ft facility at MerseyReach logistics park in Aintree.

Historic precision blade manufacturer Hardy UK designs and manufactures blades for the global leather industry, with 95 per cent of sales being exports.

Currently located on Fernhill Road in Bootle, the company’s employees are scheduled to relocate to MerseyReach by August 2020.

Chancerygate development director and head of the Warrington office, Mike Walker, said: “It is excellent to welcome a long-established local business such as Hardy UK to MerseyReach.

“This is north Liverpool’s first new, multi-unit logistics park to be built for years. We are pleased to work closely with Sefton Council and other stakeholders to bring more business, jobs and other opportunities to the area.”

Phase one of MerseyReach comprises four units totalling 112,500 sq ft and the second phase totals 90,000 sq ft. Once finished, the site on Dunnings Bridge Road will create up to 350 jobs and is estimated to have a £5.5 million positive impact on the area.

Following a £7.85 million contract awarded to the Warrington office of Caddick Construction, work on the first phase started in December. Another of the four units in phase one has already been pre-let to Selco Builders.

The remaining two units are 12,035 sq ft and 42,518 sq ft. A two-acre plot on the site will also be developed into a fuel station, drive-through Starbucks and Spar retail store by Euro Garages.

Hardy UK managing director, Peter Oxspring, said: “During the 2015 takeover the board identified early on that, in order to sustain and then grow Hardy UK as the largest blade manufacturer in the leather industry, a relocation of premises would be essential.

“Having considered many options with the help of the team at Mathews & Goodman, both within the area and further afield, Chancerygate made a compelling offer and we were ultimately convinced that MerseyReach would be the right place to call home for the next phase of the development of Hardy UK.”